


Cousins

by meyari



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Attempted Rape, Bad Parenting, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Light BDSM, Multi, Original Character(s), Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-31
Updated: 2012-10-31
Packaged: 2017-11-17 11:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 49,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/551168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim Drake knew many things that he really shouldn't. He knew that his parents didn't love him enough to stay home with him. He knew his Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward were very, very, very strange. He knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman. What he didn't know was that his cousin Ryan would dramatically change his life when he and Ryan finally convinced their mothers to put aside their animosity towards each other long enough to allow them to get to know each other. Getting to have Ryan as his not-twin was one of the best things that ever happened to Tim in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cousins

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this story contains some very bad parenting decisions, including requiring a minor child to continue to live with a pedophiliac stepfather who attempted to rape him, as well as a 24/7 BDSM relationship being lived where that child can see it. The situation is resolved during the course of the story and the children involved do end up in a much better place but it could be disturbing so I felt it appropriate to warn more seriously for that.
> 
> There is also cannonical character death / ressurection in this story as well as a murder/suicide, with some very poor reactions to both sets of deaths.
> 
> Please read with caution if you have triggers related to these issues. Thank you!

Tim sighed very quietly under his breath as Mother and Father led the way to the car. He didn't know why he had to go along. Mother and Auntie Jennifer always fought so much that their visits were shorter than the drive to get there. Tim usually barely got to say hello to his cousin Ryan before Mother was shouting that it was time to leave.

"Be good, Timothy," Mother said as they got in the car for the half hour drive across town.

"Yes, ma'am," Tim replied. 

He exchanged a look with Father who rolled his eyes and ruffled Tim's hair fondly. They both knew Tim wasn't going to be the one to mess up the visit. The drive there was silent but the closer they got to Auntie Jennifer's home the twitchier Mother was. Tim caught Father looking at him in the rear view mirror and smiled wryly at him. Father laughed quietly, turning into Auntie Jennifer's driveway.

The house was a lot bigger than most houses, though only a quarter the size of Mother and Father's home. Tim spotted Ryan in the second floor window of his bedroom and waved. Ryan waved back, grinning, before disappearing, probably to run down the stairs. When they got to the door it was Ryan who opened it. Just like with Mother and Auntie Jennifer, looking at Ryan was like looking at a mirror. The only real difference between them was that Ryan was two months younger and had hazel-blue eyes instead of Tim's clear blue.

"Come on in," Ryan said. "Can Tim and I be excused, Aunt Janet?"

"Yes, of course," Mother said while glaring at her twin sister who was just coming down the stairs with Ryan's step-father Edward. "You two go play."

Tim hurried with Ryan, wanting to get as much time as possible to play. He didn't think they'd have more than a couple of minutes. Uncle Edward was wearing a leather collar like a dog's and Tim knew that Mother and Father would have problems with that. Big problems. They always had problems with Uncle Edward, to the point that Mother and Father had tried to take Ryan away from them when he was just three years old. It had been shortly after the tragedy at the circus so Tim had been very hopeful to have someone else to live with them but no, Auntie Jennifer had won the court battle. Five years later Tim still hoped that someday they'd get to spend more time together though Tim really wouldn't want to do it in Ryan's parents' home.

"Inside," Ryan said once they'd run up the back stairs to his suite. 

The door was solid steel with dead bolts that could take a truck running into them at thirty-five miles an hour. Auntie Jennifer had told Tim that after Mother had objected to Tim spending any time at all in Auntie Jennifer's house. Ryan only relaxed once the door was locked securely. Then he grinned at Tim and hugged him so tightly that Tim squawked. Tim hugged him back, wishing yet again that Mother and Father had managed to get Ryan away from Auntie Jennifer. Their house wouldn't be half as empty if Ryan was there.

"We should do something," Ryan said after a second. "They'll be up soon but we should do something."

"We should tell them that we want to spend more time together," Tim countered. "I don't like the idea of staying here while Mother and Father are gone but I don't like that you're alone with Uncle Edward so much either."

"You're the one left alone all the time," Ryan protested but it was a weak protest. He bit his lip. It was very much like looking in a mirror when Tim was nervous. "Do you think they'd let us?"

"Maybe?" Tim answered with a mirroring bit lip. "If we both ask they might."

They looked at the heavy steel door and then back at each other in unison. Every time they spent time together they started mimicking each other. Tim didn't know why. He didn't really care. All he cared about was getting to spend time with his cousin, not being alone, not letting Ryan be alone. After a moment Ryan nodded, expression going determined and fierce. Tim felt his expression do the same thing and smiled. Somehow looking fierce helped him feel fierce too.

"Let's go back downstairs," Tim said.

"Right," Ryan agreed.

Mother and Father were glaring at Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward when they got back down to the living room. Uncle Edward was kneeling at Auntie Jennifer's feet, a nervous expression on his face as if they'd just missed something cutting being said between Mother and Aunt Jennifer. Tim bit his lip as the nervousness returned but Ryan just looked twice as determined. He looked at Tim and took his hand. Tim smiled and put on his own fierce expression. It helped once more, as did his memories of sneaking through Gotham to take pictures of Batman and Robin.

"Mom," Ryan said as they marched into the living room hand in hand, "we want to have more time to play together."

"Ryan," Auntie Jennifer said in that sharp tone that so reminded Tim of Mother when she was shocked and annoyed.

"It's not fair that we can't be friends just because you don't like each other," Tim declared. "Yes, there are reasons to object to both lifestyles but that's not our fault. We like each other. We want to get to know each other and play and spend time together."

"Let me go spend time with Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack while they're in town," Ryan said with just a hair too much hope. "And then let Tim come stay here while you're gone. It would be better for him than staying home alone."

Mother frowned at Tim and Ryan at the same time that Auntie Jennifer jerked on Uncle Edward's leash to keep him from offering an opinion. His expression was eager enough that Tim glared at him. Of course, Mother noticed the glare and started shaking her head.

"You know I want to take self-defense lessons, Mother," Tim told her. "Ryan already takes them. I could go with him and learn everything I need to know to protect myself."

"Heh, I'm learning how to use knives and other sharp objects right now," Ryan said with a wicked enough grin that Uncle Edward went pale and looked away. "The practice is a lot of fun."

"If we spend time in each other's houses then you'll have time alone," Tim suggested.

Auntie Jennifer met Mother's eyes, her expression defiant enough that Mother rolled her eyes. They eyed Tim and Ryan, the way that they were still holding hands, eventually doing that silent conversation through glances and tiny facial tics thing that Ryan always found creepy and Tim found fascinating but only because he couldn't figure out what they were saying to each other. After a moment Auntie Jennifer sighed and nodded. When she did that, Mother smiled coldly and nodded once too. Mother looked at Ryan, still wearing the cold smile.

"Go pack, dear," Mother said. "We'll be leaving shortly."

Tim and Ryan both gasped in delight. They exchanged looks and ran for the stairs. Ryan's hands shook as he locked his door. While he did that Tim started pulling clothes out of his drawers and stacking them up so that they could pack Ryan's suitcase. It was big enough to hold not only all of Ryan's shirts, pants, underwear, socks and a spare pair of shoes but also his favorite books. Tim made sure that everything was packed well, starting when Ryan thrust a small framed photo at him.

"It's my real father," Ryan said, his eyes looking more hazel then blue. "I want to bring it along."

"Of course," Tim said, carefully not staring at the smiling man who looked a lot like Jack other than his broken nose and bright green eyes. "We can't leave it behind."

They wrapped the picture in two shirts and packed it in the middle of the suitcase. It would probably be safe there. Tim carefully didn't start as Ryan brought back three knives, two short sais and a staff that screwed apart in the middle so that it would fit in the suitcase. Ryan frowned at his bedding as if he thought he should bring that too.

"We have spare beds," Tim said.

"I know," Ryan replied. "I just don't want Edward perving out in my room."

"Ew," Tim groaned. "Wash the sheets when you get back?"

"And the blankets," Ryan agreed. "And probably the curtains. I think I'll roll up the rug and put that in the closet. I doubt he'd drag it out just to, you know, play."

"Ew," Tim repeated.

They rolled the rug up and carefully stashed it in the closet in the very back corner. Then they stripped all the sheets and blankets off and opened the curtains all the way to make them less tempting. The towels and shower curtain went in a stack with the sheets and blankets, all of which Ryan passed over to their part-time maid Daisy. She sniffled as if worried about Ryan.

"Make sure to put them all in the linen closet at the end of the hallway, Daisy," Ryan told her. "I don't want Edward getting at my things."

"No sir, certainly not sir," Daisy said with a shudder that matched Tim's. "You be careful while you're gone."

"He'll be staying with me," Tim said to reassure her. "Mother and Father are um, much more conventional than Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Edwards."

"Please clean the room while I'm gone," Ryan asked her.

She hugged Ryan and helped them carry the heavy suitcase downstairs. Tim wasn't at all surprised to find that Mother and Father were waiting impatiently for them. Daisy very carefully didn't look at Uncle Edward at all. Ryan marched over and hugged Aunt Jennifer, also pointedly ignoring Uncle Edward as he knelt next to Aunt Jennifer's side. Aunt Jennifer hugged him back, patting Ryan's head fondly.

"Janet's agreed to make sure that you and Tim get to your lessons," Aunt Jennifer said. "You study hard and be good, Ryan."

"We'll be in town for at least a month," Mother said. "Possibly two months, depending on how business goes."

"Mmm, understood," Aunt Jennifer said as if she thought that was a horribly short time. "We'll come visit. If you want to come home do let me know, Ryan, even if it's just to visit."

"Yes, ma'am," Ryan said. "Enjoy the private time."

Auntie Jennifer's laugh was earthy and deep. It scared Tim, especially given how Uncle Edward shivered and bit his lip. Father grabbed Ryan's suitcase, grunting at the weight of it, and headed for the door. As Ryan came over to Tim's side, Tim thought about giving Aunt Jennifer a hug but decided that he really didn't want to get that close to Uncle Edward. Instead he took Mother's hand and Ryan's hand and then pulled them both towards the door. The sooner they were in the car the less likely it would be that one set of parents or the other would change their minds.

He only relaxed once they were in the car and moving again. Father drove a bit too fast but he always did when leaving Auntie Jennifer's house. Ryan clutched Tim's hand as they drove as if he thought that any second Mother would announce that they were turning around and taking him back to Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Edward. They didn't turn around. They didn't stop until they were back home.

"That's Wayne Manor," Tim said as they came up over the hill. The bigger building was easy to see despite the huge expanse of grounds between it and Mother and Father's house.

"Wow," Ryan breathed. "It's huge."

"Uh-huh," Tim agreed. "Their property goes right down to the ocean. Ours doesn't but you can see the ocean from the back edge of it."

"Really?" Ryan asked with enough delight that Father grinned at them in the rear view mirror.

"Yes," Tim said. "I take lots of pictures out there."

"I wanna see!" Ryan said with enough excitement that Tim bit his lip and nodded despite his worries about Ryan discovering his secret stash of Batman and Robin pictures.

Tim really shouldn't have worried about it. Mother insisted that Ryan have his own bedroom instead of sharing Tim's. Ryan ended up directly across the hall from Tim's room so that was okay. He was close but not right on top of Tim. Dinner was different with another young person at the table. Ryan had very good table manners but he asked a lot of questions that Tim would never have dared ask. Father didn't mind it at all but Tim could see how Mother's lips went thin as the questions went on. It seemed like Ryan saw it too because the questions changed slightly after a bit.

"So dessert isn't a reward?" Ryan asked as pieces of cheesecake with fresh strawberries were brought to each of them. "You don't have to earn it?"

"Earn it?" Father asked. "Like doing chores or something?"

"Mmm, no," Ryan said as he ate a little bite of the cheesecake and sighed at how good it was. It really was good, Tim thought. "Mother only allowed certain things if specific goals were reached. So if we wanted dessert than Edward had to behave according to the rules she set down and I had to reach specific grades on my homework. Or going on special trips. There were specific tasks that had to be completed before it would be allowed."

Mother and Father exchanged covertly horrified looks at that. Tim felt a little horrified by that too. Granted, he was always careful to get enough exercise and do his homework but it wasn't something that would get privileges taken away if he failed. As Mother turned to look fully at Ryan, he met her gaze perfectly calmly, at least as far as she could see. Tim could feel Ryan's toes trembling against his feet, as if Ryan needed the contact to stay calm.

"Ryan, our household doesn't work the way you're used to," Mother explained.

"I know that," Ryan said. "That's why I was asking. I wanted to learn the rules as quickly as possible so I don't do anything wrong."

Mother's sharp inhale wasn't quite a gasp but it came very, very close. She reached out and caught Ryan's hand, squeezing it gently. "Ryan, the rules are very simple. Don't hurt Tim, don't allow yourself to get hurt. Don't hurt others, either. Do your homework and do well on your martial arts lessons. I expect you and Tim both to be in bed by 9:00 pm. You may read until 10:00 pm but after that lights will go out. If you bring friends over, you must notify the cook ahead of time if they're staying for dinner. Don't make messes. Try not to be too noisy as Jack and I both work from home frequently. Other than that you're free to play and do as you will as long as it doesn't damage anything."

Ryan nodded seriously as if he was memorizing every single rule. He looked at Jack who nodded that Janet had gotten the rules right. Tim wanted to add that he shouldn't expect attention but he'd already mentioned that to Ryan during their brief visits prior to today. After a moment Ryan smiled at Mother. It was too tight and very nervous but the smile seemed to reassure her.

"All right," Ryan said. "What about punishment? If I do something wrong what will happen?"

That really made Mother and Father react. Father started muttering under his breath, just quietly enough that Tim couldn't make out the actual words. Mother's hand tightened on Ryan's hand before she noticed it and deliberately relaxed her fingers. Tim wasn't completely certain why the question was so horrible as he would have asked the same thing. Knowing the consequences was important to deciding how you would react to something.

"We do not believe in corporal punishment, Ryan," Mother declared so fiercely that Tim and Ryan both winced. Ryan hid it better than Tim did. "If you break the rules the first time you'll get a warning and I'll make sure that you actually understood the rules. The second time you'll have privileges such as being allowed access to the TV or bringing friends over removed. A third time of the same offense will result in your going home with no more visits for quite a while."

"All right," Ryan said. It was obvious that the last punishment was a real threat as far as he was concerned. "Um, is anyone allowed in my room without permission?"

"No," Mother said. "If you want to clean it and deal with the laundry yourself you're free to do so once we verify that you know how to run the washer and dryer. I do encourage you to allow the cleaning crew in but I'll expect you to keep your room neat while you're here."

"No, I meant at night," Ryan clarified. "No one can come in? I can lock the door and window if I want?"

This time the tightness in Mother's expression was pure fury. She released Ryan's hand and nodded sharply enough that Tim winced. Ryan didn't wince. To Tim's surprise he relaxed as if that was exactly what he'd wanted to hear. See. Whatever. The rest of dinner was very quiet as Ryan didn't ask any more questions and Tim didn't dare ask any of his own. He'd wait to talk to Ryan in private. Mother and Father both ate their dessert in silence and nodded when Tim quietly asked to be excused. Ryan went with him.

"You really get to do whatever you want?" Ryan asked suspiciously once they were upstairs.

"Mmm-hmm," Tim said, pulling out his camera. "Um, did you want to go see the grounds? We've got a little while before the sun sets. I was thinking of taking some pictures of the sunset."

"Sure!" Ryan said with so much enthusiasm that it made Tim grin.

They headed out onto the grounds, Tim pointing out things as they went. The corner of the property that let you look out over the ocean made Ryan stare and grin for ages. Out of the corner of Tim's eye he saw Bruce Wayne walking across the back lawn. Tim automatically took a picture of him, blushing when Ryan stared at him.

"I like taking pictures of people," Tim explained.

"You really do have to show me some of your pictures," Ryan said. "Do you send them out to be developed?"

"No, I have my own dark room," Tim said. "I do it myself."

"No way!" Ryan breathed as if that was the most incredible thing he'd ever heard. "Really?"

When Tim nodded Ryan made a long whistle of amazement that somehow carried to Bruce Wayne's ears. He stared at the two of them and waved one hand in a lazy wave that Ryan waved back enthusiastically to. Tim waved much more hesitantly because oh wow, Batman just waved at him, except not really. They made their way back to the house, Tim snapping pictures and explaining to Ryan how the camera worked to focus on things far away versus things up close. It seemed like Ryan found it really interesting. By the time they got back to the house Tim had used up the roll of film and gotten several shots of Ryan to boot. He was really, really, really glad that he'd started a new roll of film last night because there wasn't one Batman or Robin picture on it so it was safe to go down to his dark room and show Ryan how he did it.

"Aren't the chemicals dangerous?" Ryan asked as he helped Tim measure and pour what they needed.

"Not really," Tim said. "They're not much more dangerous than ammonia and bleach. As long as we're careful it's fine."

Ryan seemed fascinated by the whole process of breaking open the roll, developing the film and then transferring the negatives to picture paper. Watching the picture of Bruce slowly appear in the bath was really cool. Tim had almost forgotten how amazing the process could be in his focus on getting the perfect shot. Having Ryan there made it all fun again.

By the time they'd developed all the pictures that Tim wanted out of the roll (some were blurry or dull) it was time for bed. Tim let Ryan borrow one of his books on photography. Ryan allowed him to borrow one of his instruction manuals on martial arts to read. They both went to their bedrooms by 9:00 and when Tim checked at 10:00 Ryan's lights were off and the door was securely locked. He smiled. Maybe this would work out really well after all. Tim might not get as much time to take pictures of Batman and Robin but he did have someone here to share his days with. That was a very good thing, especially since he'd start taking martial arts lessons with Ryan tomorrow. Knowing how to defend himself would be really helpful for when he got old enough to go out and watch their patrol patterns himself. If he was really lucky he might manage to get some good fight pictures for his collection. It was just a matter of time and being prepared.

+++++

Ryan watched Tim as he worked through the exercises his sensei had given him. He really wasn't that bad at them. There were a couple of quirks that could get him hurt that Ryan intended to talk to him about after class but overall he took the training very seriously and did pretty well for a kid who had never had martial arts before. He did really well for someone who had never been threatened or hurt before.

"Focus," Sensei Davis warned Ryan. "Don't pay attention to your twin's work. Guard yourself. Trust him to take care of himself."

"Cousin," Ryan corrected as he forced himself to pay attention to the knife he was being offered instead of Tim's progress.

"Excuse me?" Sensei Davis asked, startled enough that his eyes flicked to Tim for an instant.

"Tim is my cousin, not my twin," Ryan explained.

"Hmm."

Sensei Davis didn't explain what the little murmur of sound meant. He just started into the knife fighting exercise with Ryan. It was a lot of fun, even more-so when Ryan pictured Edward instead of Sensei Davis. The increase in intensity wasn't a problem for Sensei Davis. He was nearly six feet tall and wearing the heavy black padded armor so Ryan could put all his power into his blows and not worry about hurting him. Well, not much. Ryan had told Sensei Davis about Edward's attempts at rape so he always taught Ryan the good stuff that would take Edward down fast and hard.

By the time Sensei Davis called a stop Tim was done with his exercises and watching Ryan with eyes so wide they looked like saucers. Ryan laughed quietly while toweling off, shrugging at Tim's stare. Tim frowned, looking out the door for a moment and then sighing as if he'd just figured out why Ryan was so good at this stuff.

"Can I learn that too?" Tim asked Sensei Davis.

"Do you need to?" Sensei Davis asked seriously enough that Ryan wanted to beam and hug the man even though it would make both of them really uncomfortable. Sensei Davis didn't like hugging.

"I think so," Tim said just as seriously. "I'll be spending some time at Ryan's house when my parents leave town. I think… I think I will need to learn all this stuff. Or maybe slightly different stuff. I don't think I could use a knife on someone. Maybe a staff or something."

"Staffs are fun," Ryan said, grinning as Sensei Davis laughed and ruffled his hair.

"All right, let's sit down and talk about what you want to do with the skills," Sensei Davis said. "I'll work up a plan and we'll see how you do. You and Ryan have very comparable physical builds. You'd make an excellent team once Tim catches up on the skill level."

They both grinned at that thought. Sensei Davis spent about half an hour going over the sorts of things that Tim and Ryan could learn together and apart. It looked like a lot of fun if Tim kept up at it. Ryan had enough training to know that after a month or so he and Tim would be able to take Edward down pretty easily as long as he didn't drug them or knock them both out at once. Sensei Davis sent them home with a whole series of exercises for Tim to learn and a diet for the two of them to follow to increase their muscle mass and hopefully grow faster. Tim studied the pages as if he was going to be tested on them tomorrow while Ryan waved good night to Sensei Davis.

The bus ride home took longer than what Ryan was used to. Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack's house was farther out than Mom's home. They sat together with Ryan on the outside and Tim on the inside by the window. There were a couple of people that Ryan thought were kind of creepy but they smiled when they saw Tim only to do a double-take when they saw Ryan. He could see them thinking of asking if they were twins but none of them did. Ryan didn't think that they looked that much alike. Their eyes were completely different and Ryan was about half an inch taller than Tim, plus much stronger from all the martial arts he'd learned since Mom brought Edward home. 

Unfortunately, thinking about Edward was a bad idea. Flashes of Edward's attempt to corner and then rape Ryan started going through his mind. Ryan focused on his breathing, deliberately slowing it and relaxing his shoulders, arms and hands. It was hard, so hard. It seemed like every single person on the bus looked like Edward all of a sudden or at least they did until Tim caught his hand and squeezed hard.

"It's okay, Ryan," Tim murmured just barely louder than the engine sounds of the bus. "I'm here."

The nightmare images faded away, leaving Ryan shaking and clinging to Tim's hand. He read over Tim's shoulder so that he wouldn't have to meet anyone's eyes. Ryan didn't want to know if any of them had seen his flashback, or his response to it. When he'd first started getting them he'd been convinced that everyone could see the images in his head. He knew better than that now. It was all in his brain, in the way that experience had been coded into his neurons. Mom had explained it all, her hands still bruised from the beating she'd given Edward.

That had been the start of the collars and leashes. Mom had made sure that Edward watched Ryan's first few lessons on how to kill a man three times his size. She'd had the new door put in and given Ryan his own security system for his suite. Better still, she'd made sure that Edward had absolutely no freedom to stalk Ryan or any other kid.

He still thought Arkham would have been a better place for Edward but that was just because Ryan wouldn't ever forgive Edward for being such a creepy pedophile.

Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack's house was quiet when they got home. Tim checked a couple of offices downstairs and nodded as if their being empty was exactly what he'd expected. Ryan wasn't sure why Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack weren't home. It was after 7:00. They should have been there to welcome Tim home. Mom always made sure she knew where Ryan was and that he was safe.

"Um, where are Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack?" Ryan asked as Tim headed to the kitchen.

"Not sure," Tim said. He checked a list on the fridge, nodding and smiling. "Okay, tonight they have a big party for Drake Industries to go to. They won't be home until after 2:00 am. Tomorrow they've got a dinner party here so we'll have to eat in the kitchen and be quiet as we move around. Mother hates it when I'm noisy while they have guests. And then Wednesday we'll probably have a family dinner. Mrs. Mac has steak on the menu so that makes sense. Thursday and Friday are days that Mother has scheduled for a conference. I don't think either of them will be home at all."

"That's normal?" Ryan asked, horrified. "You just come home and no one's around?"

"I'm home later than normal tonight," Tim said with a little shrug that yes, it was normal. "The class lasted longer than I expected. It was fun though. Um, Mrs. Mac made us dinner. You hungry?"

"Yeah," Ryan said.

Dinner turned out to be two plates with lasagna, salad and garlic bread that Tim carefully heated up in the microwave. He was really good in the kitchen, not having to look up times or power levels or anything. They ate, Tim asking a million questions about the exercises Sensei Davis had given him. Once they were done Tim loaded their dishes into the dishwasher. The way he did it made Ryan think that every dish had a specific place where it needed to be so he memorized how Tim did it so that he wouldn't make mistakes later.

Their homework was easy enough. Ryan's school was a little ahead of Tim's on math but a little behind on History so they were able to help each other get it done in record time. By that time it was almost 9:00. Tim kept looking at the clock as if he was worried about not making it to bed before someone noticed they were over curfew.

"If no one is home," Ryan asked, "why worry about making it to bed on the dot of 9:00?"

"Oh!" Tim gasped, going so red that Ryan frowned at him. "It's not um, that. I just…"

"What?"

Tim hunched in on himself before sighing and gesturing for Ryan to follow him. He stopped at his room and grabbed his camera. Then he led Ryan up onto the roof of the house. There was one little attic window that had a tiny balcony that overlooked the main road that ran past the house and on up to Wayne Manor. Ryan wasn't sure why they were there until about ten minutes later when the Batmobile roared down the road, heading straight for Gotham. Ryan had just a moment to see Batman's head and Robin's hair as it flew by. Tim snapped pictures, carefully resting his camera on the railing to keep from jarring it.

Ryan just stared, awed. "You get to see Batman?"

"His hideout is somewhere near here," Tim explained. "I um, take pictures when I can. Someday I'd like to take pictures of him in combat but I don't think that'll happen until I'm older. It'd be dangerous to try now."

"Well, duh," Ryan huffed. "You can barely defend yourself. You'd get eaten alive, maybe for real. Some of his villains are really scary."

"I can too defend myself," Tim protested with a hurt pout.

"Nuh-uh." Ryan shook his head no. "You left some big gaps when you were practicing earlier."

Tim frowned as if he'd been afraid of that. "Show me what I did wrong?"

"Sure!" Ryan said, beaming. "Um, inside? This is kind of scary up here."

"It's sturdy," Tim said, gesturing for Ryan to go back inside first. "I made sure of that before I started coming out here."

Ryan thought about it as they headed back down to Tim's room. He had to wonder just how many pictures Tim had taken, how long he'd been taking them. Tim was really good at taking pictures and developing them so he had to have been doing it for a while. Once they were back in Tim's room Tim immediately started going through the exercises as if he hoped to distract Ryan from questions about Batman and his pictures.

"Stop," Ryan said as Tim made a mistake. "Here. See how your wrist is? I can grab it and hurt you really easily. If you hold it straight then you can do this."

He had Tim grab his wrist in exact the same way so that he could show Tim the difference between holding his wrist bent and straight. The trick of pressing his arm into Tim's thumb to loosen his grip made Tim's eyes go wide. Several more rounds got Tim to do it properly. Ryan grinned as he helped Tim master the various exercises. It was really cool to see how quick he picked them up. Once 10:00 hit Ryan stepped back and pointed at the clock. Tim froze and then sighed as if frustrated that they had to stop.

"You did really good," Ryan said. "We can get up early and practice some more in the morning if you want but we shouldn't do too much. Sensei Davis always warns me not to overdo it so I don't hurt myself."

"That would be nice," Tim said, smiling at the thought of it. "I want to get very good at it. Mother and Father will leave in a month or two so I should be ready. If Mother keeps her word then I'll be staying with you while they're gone."

Ryan nodded very seriously. "There's a lot to learn but we'll work on getting you the most important skills first. I won't let Edward hurt you, promise."

"Thank you," Tim said. "We um, should probably go to bed. There is school tomorrow after all."

Tim sort of shooed Ryan out of his bedroom. The lights went out before Ryan was even in his room. Since Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack weren't home Ryan didn't hurry into bed so he was awake when he heard Tim's door open and very quietly shut again. Ryan frowned. Instead of getting in bed he turned off the lights and then snuck after Tim. He thought Tim must have gone back up to the attic but when he checked it was empty. Instead he saw Tim sneaking across the lawn towards the road. He was in a big heavy black coat that made him look like a shadow. Ryan frowned and went back to his room, watching Tim down by the road for another two hours.

Sometime during his surveillance of Tim's surveillance Ryan dozed off. He woke to the sound of the Batmobile roaring up the road. A quick glance at the clock said that it was 2:37 am. The Batmobile roared by, lights dimmer than a normal car's, possibly to make it harder to track. A minute and a half after that Tim's shadow detached from the spot where he'd been hiding as Tim made his careful way back across the lawn. Ryan listened until Tim crept back into his room, even more determined that tomorrow he would get Tim to show him the pictures he'd taken.

Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done. Tim woke Ryan up very early for more martial arts practice. Then it was time for breakfast in the kitchen and then they had to hurry off to their respective schools. They didn't see each other until they met at Sensei Davis' dojo after school and Tim was super-duper focused on learning how to fight.

It was important enough (stupid Edward!) that Ryan didn't ask any questions or demand any explanations. When they got back home a bunch of temporary servants were hurrying around getting ready for the dinner party that Ryan had forgotten. Tim showed him how to not to be in the way as they got their dinner and then went downstairs to his dark room. There were back stairways that weren't as busy so that made it easier.

"So what pictures do you have?" Ryan asked once they were safely hidden in Tim's dark room. "I mean of Him. You know."

"Um, a few," Tim said so nervously that Ryan glared at him.

"Come on, Tim," Ryan huffed. "It's me, not your parents."

"I know," Tim murmured. "It's really important that no one knows about them. I don't want to endanger Batman and Robin. They're… they're important to me. They do good things, lots of good things."

"I agree," Ryan said. "But I'd still like to see."

Tim bit his lip as he looked at the door. After a moment he nodded and then had Ryan lean against the door so that no one could get in. Only once Tim was sure that no one would see did he go to a corner of the room and carefully take off a panel that was at floor level. Behind that was a narrow box that Tim pulled out. Inside were dozens of pictures, not just of the Batmobile but also of Batman and Robin. Ryan stared, lured away from the doorway to look at the pictures. Most of them looked like Tim had captured them running to or from various places in town. Ryan recognized some of the spots as places that could be reached by the bus after school. A few others looked much more dangerous though, like down in the worst parts of Gotham that Edward had suggested as a good place for a 'day trip' until Ryan told Mom about his rape attempt.

"Tim," Ryan hissed at him. "This is really dangerous."

"That's why I wanted to learn to fight," Tim said, glaring at him and putting his pictures away. "I… I like taking pictures of them, Ryan. It's complicated and important and well, you wouldn't understand."

Ryan stared at him, sitting on the floor as Tim hid his pictures once more. "You're lonely. Aren't you? Taking pictures is like having a connection to them."

He wasn't at all surprised that Tim froze and stared at him like he'd just seen straight into his soul. It really wasn't that amazing. Mom had complained about how Tim was raised so many times, about how lonely and socially maladjusted he had to be because of the severe isolation Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack had inflicted on him. She'd tried to take Tim away from them when Tim and Ryan were two years old but Aunt Janet had won the court battle. Then Dad had died and Mom had been too busy mourning, at least until she brought stupid Edward home and everything changed. Ryan didn't really remember the court battle but he certainly remembered the way his life changed with Edward's arrival.

"How…?" Tim asked as he came over to sit in front of Ryan.

"Mom says all the time that you're severely neglected and that your mother should be charged with criminal neglect and child endangerment," Ryan explained. "She tried to take you away from Aunt Janet before my dad died but lost the court case."

Tim made a little hiccupping sound that was almost a laugh. "My mother tried to take you away when she found out about Uncle Edward's criminal record."

"Really?" Ryan asked, surprised. "I didn't know that."

"I didn't know about your mom's attempt either," Tim laughed really quietly under his breath.

They shared a grin. Their mothers might not like admitting that they were alike but it was really obvious from the outside that they were identical twins. Ryan let the whole stalking Batman thing go so that they could develop a few more pictures. These were pretty ones that Tim had taken just for the fun of it. The whole process was really complicated but quite fascinating to Ryan. Once the pictures were hung up to dry they snuck upstairs to Ryan's bedroom. With the dinner party going on Tim said he couldn't go take more pictures of the Batmobile but that didn't stop him from looking for it out Ryan's window.

"If the lights are off Mother will think we're asleep," Tim whispered once 10:00 rolled around.

"I get to lock my bedroom door, Tim," Ryan said, doing so before returning to the window. "No one can get in. You can stay for a while if you wanted to."

"Turn off the light," Tim said, grinning.

They ended up curled up in Ryan's window seat together, Ryan's arms wrapped around Tim and a nice, thick blanket wrapped around both of them. It was comfortable. Surprisingly comfortable given how nervous Ryan usually was about touching people. He wasn't at all surprised that he started dozing long before midnight. Ryan wasn't used to staying up late like Tim apparently was. Still, when the dinner party guests started driving off Ryan woke up only to find that Tim had fallen asleep on his shoulder. That made Ryan grin before snuggling down a little farther, Tim still securely tucked in his arms.

"I have to tell Aunt Janet," Ryan thought as he fell asleep. 

He didn't really want to, not when he could see how important it was to Tim, but it wasn't safe for him to be going out that way by himself. Ryan could go along and protect him but the one thing that Mom had always told Ryan was that he had to have backup plans. If they got in trouble out there then someone needed to know that they were gone. He couldn't trust Mom to come get them. She had stupid Edward to control. But Aunt Janet would be there if Ryan just let her know about it. Aunt Janet might like traveling way too much but he knew how much she loved Tim. She showed it in really stupid ways what with the leaving him alone so much, but her careful rules, the freedom that Tim had, and the fact that she actually touched Tim from time to time showed it to Ryan.

Ryan fell asleep plotting out how to tell Aunt Janet in a way that wouldn't get Tim in trouble while still allowing him to do what he was going to do anyway, just in a safe manner.

+++++

Tim hummed as he washed his hands before dinner. Mother had decided to eat with Tim and Ryan. Father was at work still so he would probably be home really late tonight. He usually got home well after midnight when he stayed late. Ryan had gone down early to ask Aunt Janet more questions. That made Tim nervous so he took a long time washing his hands. He knew that asking questions didn't actually make Mother and Father go away for longer periods. They'd given him full access to their schedule ages ago. All of their trips were planned at least six months in advance, some of the several years in advance. Logically, his questions and their departures had no link at all.

Despite that, Tim's instincts always told him that asking questions equaled his parents going away. Someday he was going to have to get over that particular childhood belief. The easy way Ryan had of asking questions just highlighted how silly Tim was about it. Eventually he had to stop washing because his hands were clean and washing them a third time would be silly. Tim winced when he dried his hands off. He'd made the water a little too hot and scrubbed to hard again but some lotion helped soothe his unhappy skin.

"Tim," Mother called from the base of the stairs.

"Coming, Mother!" Tim called back.

He ran downstairs, pausing on the last step as he spotted Ryan looking really, really, really guilty. Mother had his box of Batman pictures in her hand. Tim gasped, horrified and utterly betrayed that Ryan would have shown Mother his precious pictures. Despite Mother's worried expression Tim snatched the box out of her hands and clutched it to his chest.

"You said you wouldn't tell!" Tim hissed at Ryan.

"You're gonna get hurt and no one will know, Tim!" Ryan yelled back. "It's dangerous to go out there. You don't have the training, equipment or backup to do it right!"

Tim looked away; sure that Mother was going to tell him that he was grounded, that his camera and dark room were going to be taken away. Instead Mother put one hand on Tim's shoulder and gently guided him towards the small dining room where they took their family meals. Ryan stomped along behind them. When Tim looked over his shoulder at Ryan he realized that Ryan was shaking nearly as bad as Tim was. Mother sighed and made both of them sit down, one on each side of the table so that they weren't right next to each other. It was probably a good idea. Tim didn't think that he'd hit Ryan but they were both very upset at the moment.

"Tim, I've been aware for quite some time that you have a somewhat unhealthy fascination with Batman and Robin," Mother said in her most careful tone of voice, the one she used when dealing with people she cared about but wasn't sure of their reactions.

He started and stared at her, heart pounding in his throat.

"I had thought that it was a passing fascination," Mother sighed. She rested her chin on one upraised hand, studying Tim. "Ryan believes that it goes a great deal deeper, that you see something in them that you wish to emulate."

"Duh," Ryan muttered. He blushed at Mother's stern look. "Sorry Aunt Janet."

Mother nodded her acceptance of the apology. "He also believes that you will continue to stalk them even if I forbid it. Given your reaction just now, I tend to agree with him on that point."

"It's important to me, Mother," Tim whispered as he clutched the box of pictures even closer to his chest. "It is. I... I can't really explain it but... Please. I don't want to stop. There's so much I want to learn, to do, to see. Please? Don't make me stop."

He let himself beg even though he knew how much servile behavior annoyed Mother. Tim thought it was because it reminded Mother of Aunt Jennifer's relationship with Uncle Edward, or maybe of her relationship with the grandfather that Tim had never met. Nonetheless, he begged with his eyes, his expression, with his voice, with everything he had. He couldn't tell Mother that he knew who Batman was, who Robin was. There was no way to explain the link between Batman and Bruce Wayne, Robin and Dick Grayson, without revealing entirely too much. It wasn't his secret after all. Tim didn't have the right to tell them what he'd figured out without Bruce and Dick's permission.

Mother sighed. She reached out and cupped Tim's face, running her thumb over his cheekbone. "You are so my son, Tim. All right. There will be changes to how you do this. I will not have you shorting yourself sleep and you absolutely will not go out with appropriate protection. Your lessons in self-defense are going to be mandatory from now on. I believe I'll look into getting you some private lessons of a more serious nature as well."

"Really?" Ryan asked, obviously delighted by that thought. "Do I get to go to them too?"

"You were serious about your intent to shadow Tim and ensure he doesn't get hurt, weren't you?" Mother asked, an amused smile curling her lips for a moment.

"Well, yeah," Ryan said with a little snort of disgust. "He's not ready to fight anyone for real, Aunt Janet. I at least know how to do it after stupid Edward."

"Then you'll both need training, proper armor and weapons," Mother said. She turned back to Tim, chuckling at the way he was vibrating with excitement. "Have you thought about what you want to do other than take pictures, Tim? Both you and Ryan are quite intelligent and talented. Will you only watch from the sidelines or will there be a point where you find yourself wanting to help people too?"

The question startled Tim so badly that he could only stare at her. When he looked at Ryan, Ryan was staring too as if he hadn't even thought beyond making sure that Tim was safe. Tim opened his mouth but couldn't think of a single answer to her questions. Mother patted his shoulder while chuckling.

"Well, think about it, dear," Mother said. "There are quite a few years before either of you are of a size or skill level to do such things. If you decide to do so then we'll need to ensure your training takes one path. If not, then it can take a different path. Give it some serious thought. Maybe put together plans for what you would do if you could do anything."

"Ah, yes ma'am," Tim said, blinking at Ryan. "That's... I'm going to need to think for a while. Maybe when you get back from your next trip I could present something to you?"

"Oh, I cancelled my tickets, Tim," Mother said, her smile as sharp as a knife. "I'm staying here. Jack will still be going to the conference but I'm not leaving you two alone to get into mischief in Gotham while I'm away. Nor are you going back to Jennifer's house until you're able to take that man down if he so much as looks at you wrong. There will still be trips I have to go on for business but I'll be here a great deal more than I used to be."

Tim stared at Mother for a moment before looking at Ryan who seemed just as startled as he was. They exchanged a look, stopping with Mrs. Mac came in with their dinners on a rolling tray. Once Mrs. Mac left them alone Mother began to eat. Ryan followed suit but Tim had a hard time getting anything down. He'd never expected that Mother or Father finding out about his pictures would result in good things. Wrapping his head around Mother's promises took a while, by which point they were done eating.

"You have dessert every day?" Ryan asked as he studied his piece of peach cobbler.

"Generally, yes," Mother said. "I suppose that's not true in Jennifer's house?"

"No," Ryan said thoughtfully. He took a bite of the cobbler and then made a face as if he didn't like it. "Generally we only have dessert once a week or so."

"There's nothing wrong with treats, Ryan," Mother sighed.

"I suppose not," Ryan agreed even though he clearly didn't enjoy the taste of the cobbler he was picking at. "They're usually rewards back home, not a regular part of meals. That's all."

Mother shook her head at that, lips going thin with annoyance. Tim finished his cobbler quickly and Ryan pushed his away after trying a third bite. They were both excused and went up to their rooms, Tim with his box of pictures clutched to his chest as if Ryan would tear them away. Ryan grumbled something incoherent under his breath as they stood looking at each other in the hallway outside their rooms.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said finally. "I know I promised but I was really, really, really worried that you'd get raped or hurt or killed, Tim. You're my only cousin. We're sort of like brothers or we could be in time. I just… didn't want you to get hurt."

He looked away, hands clenched by his sides as if bracing himself for Tim to hit him. The urge to hit him was there but Tim didn't do it. Instead he sighed and rubbed his lips against the lid of the box. Ryan was right. It was dangerous. Tim had always known that what he was doing was dangerous. Ever since he figured out Batman and Robin's secret identities he'd realized that it was dangerous not just to him but also to his parents, as well as to Bruce and Dick. Just knowing what he knew would be horrifically bad if the wrong people found out.

"Accepted," Tim said. He smiled crookedly at Ryan's start of surprise. "I understand why you did it. I just can't stop doing it, Ryan. This matters too much to me."

"I don't get why you do it in the first place," Ryan said as his hands relaxed and his shoulders came down a little bit. "Um, tell me?"

Tim thought about it and then nodded. He jerked his head for Ryan to follow him. Instead of going into his room or Ryan's, Tim lead him up to the attic. They didn't go to the tiny balcony that was so good for capturing high angle shots of the Batmobile. The attic was quiet and dark, filling with the debris of Mother and Father's trips around the world. Way in the back corner of the attic, hidden behind a big box of broken pots that Father had never found the time to restore, was Tim's other secret stash. Ryan held his pictures as Tim pulled the scrapbook out.

Mother had tried to throw it away a few years ago. That must have been when she figured out that he was paying too much attention to Batman and Robin. Mrs. Mac had saved it from the trash for Tim, telling him that she knew how much the old scrapbook meant to him. He'd hidden it up here and rarely looked at it because he knew that Mother would try and throw it out again.

But if she was going to help him be better at taking his pictures, maybe help him be strong enough to be like Robin, then probably he could pull it out again. Ryan frowned at it, looking at Tim questioningly as they headed back down to Tim's room. Mother was there, apparently looking for them. She barked a little laugh when she saw the scrapbook.

"I should have known that you would find a way to keep that," Mother sighed.

"Mrs. Mac saved it for me so I hid it," Tim said. "I want to keep this too. May I?"

"There are reasons that I threw it out, Tim," Mother sighed. "The data you gathered would be powerful and very dangerous in someone else's hands."

Tim stared up at her, suddenly realizing that she had figured it out too. She knew who Batman and Robin were. Just by creating his scrapbook he'd told her. Anyone who saw it would learn the same thing.

"I know that," Tim said. He bit his lip before trying to be as brave as Ryan. "But I still want to keep it. Ryan wanted to know why this matters to me and this... it explains it, Mother. Better than I could. I'll edit the contents, make it less… revealing, okay?"

"All right," Mother said, "but I want you to consider more secure ways to keep your information. This is very dangerous, both the photos and the scrapbook. You have to be better than that Tim. Just as Ryan has learned how to be more dangerous than most boys his age, you must learn how to be smarter and sneakier than most. The knowledge you have is more dangerous than any weapon Ryan could use."

"I'll work on it," Tim promised. "I will. I might, might need to buy things."

"That's what your plan is for," Mother said with a very bright smile that was the sort that made men from Drake Industries wince and tremble. "Include what you need to buy, everything you think you might need. We'll review it and improve the plan as we need to. I want a draft of the plan in one week, Tim, Ryan. Both of you are to submit them to me."

"Both?" Ryan squawked.

"What you want to do is different from what Tim wants to do," Mother explained as she went to the door. She paused and smirked at Ryan. "Do remember that it's not just a matter of better weapons, dear. You have to think better than your opponents as well as being able to physically take them down."

She closed the door after her, leaving the two of them alone together. Ryan shivered convulsively, swallowed hard and then turned back to Tim with his eyes so wide that Tim could see the whites all around. Tim set down the scrapbook on his bed before taking the pictures from him. Then he hugged Ryan as hard as he could. He knew how scary Mother could be when she decided that something needed to be done. Ryan wasn't used it though.

"No wonder Mom says Aunt Janet can make grown men cry with her smiles," Ryan whispered.

Tim started giggling. "She has! I saw it at a party one. He was being drunk and rude and Mother started say these really cutting things and after about three minutes the man started crying. Later I heard Father tell her that the man had quit his job and moved to a different city on the west coast."

"Really scary," Ryan groaned. "What sort of plan? Mom's never had me make a plan. Justify things with good arguments but a written plan, no."

"I'll help you," Tim said, still giggling. "Let me show you why this matters, okay?"

"Okay," Ryan said.

They cuddled on the bed, Tim leaning into Ryan's side. It was nice to have someone to cuddle with. Tim wasn't used to the amount of touching Ryan did but he really, really liked it. Mother and Father were both gone so much that he just didn't touch them much even when they were here. Having Ryan right there to hug and cuddle with made Tim feel like he was getting something that he hadn't known he'd needed before. Ryan seemed to feel much the same way because he gladly let Tim snuggle up.

"When I was three and a half Mother and Father took me to see Haly's Circus," Tim explained as he opened the scrapbook to the first page that had the flyer for the circus. "It was a special treat for me. But Father forgot his wallet so we couldn't get it. Bruce Wayne was right behind us in line and he saw me crying so he paid for everyone in line to get in."

"Seriously?" Ryan asked, surprised.

"Mm-hmm," Tim said. "This is a picture of me with Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's adopted son, on that day. These are his parents. They, um, they died that day, Ryan."

Ryan made a horrified gasp. As Tim went through the rest of the scrapbook showing how the Flying Graysons had died and how Batman had brought their murderers to justice Ryan listened. Part of the scrapbook detailed Batman and Robin's adventures. The other part showed what had happened with Dick. Eventually Ryan wrapped his arms around Tim's neck and hugged him so hard that it was hard to breathe.

"You wanted a family that loved you as much as Dick's family loved him," Ryan whispered.

Tim nodded, abandoning the scrapbook to his lap so that he could hug Ryan back.

"I always wanted a home where I felt safe," Ryan continued in his tiny, tight whisper. "One where I didn't have to worry about punishments and guarding my back. I wanted someone who could watch over me while I watched over them."

"I will," Tim promised. "As much as I can."

They pulled back and looked into each other's eyes. Tim smiled and Ryan smiled too. Right now neither of them had what they really wanted. Mother would never be the loving, affectionate person that Dick's mother had been and Ryan's parents weren't going to stop being scarily strange about their sex lives. But having Ryan here made it better. Ryan had someone to guard his back and now Tim had permission to become more than just a recorder of other people's lives.

He could be more. Maybe someday he could be a hero just like Robin. Better still, maybe someday he could be part of a team like Batman and Robin, just with Ryan instead of Dick and Bruce. Tim laughed quietly. Mother was right. They needed to make plans and figure out what skills, knowledge and tools they needed. For the first time in Tim's memory he felt like there was hope of something far beyond what he'd ever dreamed.

"Let's talk about our plans," Tim said as he took Ryan's hand.

Ryan nodded. "There's so much we need to do. We need more time together."

"Maybe... we could go to the same school," Tim suggested. "That would give us a lot more time."

"Yeah," Ryan said with a wild grin that was full of nervousness and well as excitement. "So tell me how this formal plan thing works. If we only have a week to get it done then that's not much time. We better get started."

This time Tim nodded. He set aside the scrapbook and box of pictures. That was the past. Now it was time to focus on the future and what he could do, what he could be, with Ryan by his side. Together they could become something really incredible if only they could figure out what it was they wanted to do.

"Let's," Tim said, determination to do his best filling him.

+++++

"How…?" Ryan panted and ducked under the sword heading for his head, trusting that Tim would escape the second sword trying to cut his arm off. "Did Mother meet you?"

"Pay attention to the fight, kid," Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, replied. "This isn't the time to ask questions."

Tim rolled and ended up behind Slade, throwing a knife that Slade blocked in a lazy move that Ryan was insanely jealous of. Three years into their training and he still couldn't manage something like that, not that any of their other trainers could. Slade was at a completely different level which wasn't too surprising given his enhanced physical abilities. The block turned Slade away enough that Ryan went for an ankle blow that didn't even get close to connecting. When Slade turned back to try and kick Ryan away Tim snorted. They really weren't doing too well convincing Slade that they were worth training even if they were still standing fifteen minutes into the fight. It wasn't like Slade was actually trying.

"It was probably Arthur Murphy's murder," Tim commented through his panting. "I knew Mother had something to do with the death but I always assumed Mother simply scared him to death."

That startled Slade enough that he turned fully to face Tim, leaving his back open. The instant Ryan had the opportunity he dove at Slade and tackled his knees. At the same time Tim hit him and knocked Slade to the side, going for his throat. Neither of them managed to hit an artery but Tim got really close to Slade's jugular while Ryan went for Slade's femoral artery. Tim managed to nick Slade's neck. Ryan made a small cut in his pants but didn't connect with flesh despite his best efforts, not that Ryan thought for one second that they could actually kill Slade no matter how hard they tried. One second later they were both flat on their stomachs with Slade holding them down while he cursed viciously. Ryan didn't care if they'd annoyed him. He was the one who'd said that they should go for him as if he was there to kill them.

"Now I know why she wanted you two trained together," Slade said once he managed to stop swearing. "You're a very effective team."

"Ow," Tim commented as if having their arms hiked up behind their backs nearly to their skulls was a minor issue.

Ryan craned his neck and then groaned. "He's already healed."

"No," Tim complained. He repeated the gesture and groaned as well. "Darn it. I didn't think I was that far off on calculating your healing factor."

Slade started laughing. He didn't let go until they both nodded that they were done for the moment. When he let go of them, Ryan rolled to the left and Tim to the right, both of them rubbing their shoulders. Even though they'd gained a good bit of height and muscle during the last three years they were still smaller than average. Mother, Janet, appeared at the doorway to their private dojo. She raised an eyebrow at the two of them before looking at Slade who smirked and stood.

"They're little scrappers," Slade said. "Almost got me twice over."

"I did tell you that they were well trained," Mother said. "I assume that you will be staying and furthering their training."

Ryan frowned at the way Slade glared at Mother. She didn't react to the glare at all but it bugged him that Slade would act as though she was asking something horrific. Just like Mother, Tim didn't react outwardly but Ryan could see the way his fingers trembled before he got control of the physical reaction. After a moment Slade jerked his chin at Ryan and Tim.

"They're kids," Slade snarled. "You want me to train a pair of kids to be assassins."

"No, I want you to train a pair of young men to fight assassins and other villains," Mother said a stiff enough tone that she had to have explained it already. "Timothy and Ryan are quite determined that they will become some form of vigilantes in the next several years. I will not allow them to go out without knowing exactly how to take care of themselves against anyone they might face. If I could, I would have Batman train them. That isn't an option. Thus I turn to you. You are the best, Slade Wilson. You can train them how to defend themselves, how to defend each other, and how to defend anyone they chose to protect."

"If they're supposed to be heroes why'd they go for kill shots?" Slade asked, turning to glare at Ryan and Tim.

"You look sort of like my pedophiliac step-father," Ryan explained. "Plus you said to treat it like an assassination attempt."

"Exactly. He's tried to rape Ryan in the past," Tim agreed. "And he's made some attempts to get me alone, too."

"You married a pedo?" Slade bristled so badly that Ryan wasn't at all surprised at the way Mother glared at him.

"No, my identical twin sister married a 'pedo'," Mother snapped. "I attempted to take custody of Ryan when they became involved but the courts failed me. I will not allow my son or my nephew to be harmed by that man or anyone else."

This time Slade's response was complete surprise. He peered at Tim and Ryan, studying the two of them for a long moment. His nostrils flared as if he was scenting the air. After a long moment he nodded slowly as if he finally saw it. Tim glared at Slade but Ryan wasn't surprised. Ever since they started living as brothers everyone had assumed that they were twins. Most people assumed that they were identical twins. Slade was just one more in a long line of poorly based assumptions that Ryan thought worked in their favor.

"So you two treated me the way you want to treat him," Slade observed.

"Yeah," Ryan replied. He shrugged. "He hasn't tried anything serious in the last year and a half but I expect that he'll get up to something soon. Mom's not very happy with him lately so they're fighting a lot more than they used to. That normally means he's going to do something stupid like go for me or Tim."

"Should divorce him and send him to prison," Mother growled under her breath while glaring at the door as if she intended to storm straight over there and have Edward arrested.

"Mom doesn't trust Arkham to keep him there and the prisons are a joke in Gotham," Ryan countered just as he always did when Mother got that tone. "He'd be out in weeks instead of being put away for life. You know she wants to be absolutely certain that he never harms another child. She's just as much of a control freak as you are."

As always Mother glared at him as if he was being exceptionally short sighted and particularly stupid to boot. Slade snickered at all of them, rubbing the blood off his throat as if it was nothing. Maybe for him it was nothing. Tim watched Slade, studying his reactions so seriously that Slade finally frowned down at him. It was kind of intimidating, having that white eye patch and one blue eye glaring at you, but Tim didn't show any signs of nervousness. Ryan was pretty sure that he was nervous anyway so he took up his station behind Tim and slightly to the right.

The shift made Mother smile. "You will find that the boys are rather more advanced than other twelve year olds, Slade."

"I would have thought they were ten," Slade said, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise.

"We're two weeks away from being twelve," Tim said in a tone that was nearly identical to Mother's iciest voice.

"We're just short," Ryan agreed in a much more cheerful tone of voice. He huffed when Tim glared at him. "What? We are. We probably always will be unless Mother agrees to get us HGH."

"I will not begin feeding you human growth hormones," Mother said in the 'this is not negotiable' voice. "Your size will be perfectly adequate as long as you have appropriate training. There is no need for you to risk your heart heath and future joint stability for a handful of inches."

Slade laughed, shaking his head at all three of them. He went and gathered up the knives that Tim and Ryan had used. His posture suggested that he had decided that this was a worthwhile assignment because his shoulders were down and relaxed. All of his movements were smooth and calm, as if there was nothing at all going on and he hadn't nearly had his arteries cut open a couple of minutes ago. Mother noticed it too because she smiled triumphantly as she put her hands on Tim and Ryan's shoulders.

"All three of you are nuts," Slade commented. "It's a good sort of nuts but you're still nuts."

"Then you'll train us?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, I'll train you," Slade said. "In six months to a year you should be doing well enough that you won't need me. Your husband going to be okay with this, Janet?"

"Jack understands that it's necessary to teach the boys to protect themselves not only from Edward but also from people who might choose to kidnap or kill them," Mother said. Her voice made it clear that Jack knew better than to contradict her or ask questions. "Drake Industries isn't at Wayne Industries' level but we are still quite rich and powerful. That makes the boys targets."

Her words made Slade nod thoughtfully. Ryan thought that he was adding that into his plans for the training. Hopefully they'd be good plans. Tim was getting much more serious about his research into the movements and patterns of the criminals of Gotham. Pretty soon he was going to insist on taking their investigations out into the city instead of relying on computer surveillance. And Ryan wasn't going to settle for protecting the people in their area for much longer. The Drake manor was way outside of town and they were just too far away from the people who actually needed help.

"All right," Slade said. "Let's sit down and discuss what the goals are and the timeframe."

"Very well," Mother said. "Tim, Ryan, let me know what the three of you decide. Slade and I will discuss his fees after that."

She walked out before Slade could do anything other than stare at her in shock. When Slade pointed at the door as if to ask if Mother was serious Ryan grinned and Tim smiled his thinnest scariest smile. They sat at the table in the corner of the room, Tim pulling over his laptop and opening it up so that he could show Slade what they had planned at the moment.

"Mother insists that we have extensive plans for what we intend to do, Mr. Wilson," Tim explained. "If you would sit down, we can go over them in whatever level of detail you require."

"Okay, evil twin," Slade said pointing at Ryan and then Tim as he sat, "and eviler twin. Interesting."

"Neither of us is evil," Tim snapped at him. "We're certainly not conventional but you can't claim to be that either."

"Point," Slade agreed. He nodded at the laptop. "Lay it on me."

By the time Tim was done with the presentation he'd created on what their goals were and what skills they felt would be appropriate for them to master Slade's one eye was very wide. His lips were also very thin as if he disapproved of the presentation or maybe he just didn't think that kids should be that good at computers. Ryan didn't know. He'd let Tim handle this side of things for the most part. Sure, Ryan could cover for Tim on the computers if it was necessary but they weren't his forte. That was Tim's thing. Combat was what Ryan was better at, both planning for battles and actually doing the fighting. They did work to keep their skills to within ten percent of each other but that was only because they knew that eventually they'd get separated in the field and would need to be able to operate alone.

"You kids..." Slade sighed. "All right. You're not too far off on the skills you'll need. How tall do you think you're gonna get?"

"Very likely no more than 5' 9"," Tim said.

"Give or take," Ryan agreed. "The doctors are pretty clear that we're going to be between 5' 7" and 5' 10" at best. Unless we wear down Mother on HGH but I don't think we'll succeed there."

"No, that's not a good option," Slade said as he waved one hand to dismiss it. "She's right that it would probably impact your heart and joints when you're older. Never sacrifice your future for a momentary advantage if you can help it."

They both nodded at that bit of advice, Tim making a note in another file and Ryan memorizing it and adding it to the store of wisdom he needed to work into his battle strategies. Slade's expression went disturbed again but only for a moment. He shook his head at them as if he wasn't used to people actually listening to him. His expression when he studied them was challenging.

"Guns?" Slade asked.

"I'm okay with them," Ryan said. "Not as a usual thing but I do want to learn to use them."

"I'm not," Tim said. He smiled wryly at Slade's curious look. "I find them to be an inefficient way to solve problems such as what we're likely to face. I am however far more comfortable with causing crippling injuries than Ryan is."

"I'd rather kill them than leave them crippled for life," Ryan complained. "That's just cruel."

Slade snorted a little laugh. "You two are going to be absolutely terrifying when you're a few years older."

"I certainly hope so," Tim said completely seriously even though Ryan knew perfectly well that Tim didn't really care if he was scary or not. "It's part of our plan, you know."

He made Slade laugh out loud, a big booming laugh that filled the dojo. They spent an hour and a half going over everything that Ryan and Tim could possibly want to learn, what Slade thought they'd be good at and all the things that they hadn't thought of. There were a lot of things that they hadn't factored into their plans. Slade knew of weapons and martial arts skills and meta abilities that they really did need to be prepared for. By the time they were done talking Mother was back. She read over Tim's shoulder and nodded her approval for the changes to their plans.

"I am sorry to say this," Mother said in the voice she reserved for being exceedingly annoyed at schedule changes, "but you're going to have to go back to Jennifer's house for three nights, boys."

"Awwww," Ryan groaned.

"The ah, takeover attempt?" Tim asked with an equally disappointed expression though it didn't show in his voice.

"I'm afraid so," Mother said. She looked quite irritated by it. "Unfortunately I have to be there for the negotiations in person. The lawyers are being quite difficult about it. I've had the servants pack your clothes and books for you. I'll be flying out to join Jack within the hour. Make sure that you pack your weapons. Jennifer is aware that you will be coming over and says that you should be wary of Edward. Slade, you will begin training them when I return."

Slade nodded as if he was okay with that though he was frowning as if he didn't like the interruption or the delay. Ryan really hoped that they had a lot of time to learn to read his reactions. Mother's training on reading people's body language was helpful but not everyone responded the same way. Not having one eye made a difference, or at least Ryan thought that it made a difference. Either way, he wasn't completely certain that he had correctly interpreted all of Slade's reactions.

"I'll get the equipment they're going to need," Slade said. "Quarter of a million in my account before I start, another quarter every three months until they're fully trained. Deal?"

"Agreed," Mother said. "Boys, go make sure everything you need has been packed."

Tim closed his laptop and carried it upstairs, Mother and Slade walking behind them as Mother made sure that Slade understood exactly what sorts of reports on their progress she wanted. He didn't sound terribly pleased about having to report back but when Ryan glanced at him before entering his bedroom Slade had an expression that was almost admiring. Mother didn't look as though she cared one way or the other what Slade thought of her.

Ryan made sure that he had his full set of throwing knives as well as the hideout knife he kept sewn into the back of his jackets. The collapsible staff and miniature crossbow fit perfectly into his backpack. He made sure that the crossbow was ready to draw and fire in an instant. The armoring that he and Tim had added to the back and bottom of his backpack made it safe enough for Ryan to carry it around cocked and locked down.

"Nice," Slade commented. "You think you're going to need it?"

"Never know," Ryan said with a shrug. "Edward's twitchy and Mom's not happy with him. That generally means we need to be on our toes. I'd far rather shoot his knees out from a distance than have to fight with him hand to hand. He is a lot larger than we are."

Tim had his collapsible staff in his hand. From the way his backpack hung he'd brought along the bolos he was trying to master as well as his big pack of throwing stars. They headed downstairs to where Mother was waiting for them. Their suitcases were there, alongside Mother's larger suitcase. She was on the phone but she still gave them both a kiss on the forehead and a pat on the shoulder. To Ryan's surprise Slade's car was waiting and he took their bags.

"Curious about this second mother you've got," Slade commented as he loaded their bags into the trunk.

"You probably won't see her," Tim said. He looked at Mother who nodded that it was okay. Tim nodded back as his fingers' grip on the straps of his backpack relaxed slightly. "We have a completely separate apartment in Mom's house."

"Mom, Mother, what's up with that?" Slade asked.

He made sure they were both strapped into the back seat before driving away. Mother waved goodbye before getting into her own car to drive to the airport. Ryan let Tim handle the instructions on how to get to Mom's house. It seriously sucked that they had to go back home for a while, not that Mom's house had been home for ages. If they were really, really lucky then Slade would keep an eye on them even while Mother was away.

"So?" Slade prompted.

"They're functionally sharing custody of us," Tim explained when Ryan didn't. "It isn't a legal arrangement but my mother has custody when she's in town. If she goes out of town then we go and stay with Ryan's mother."

"And Tim's always called Janet 'Mother' and I always called Jennifer 'Mom'," Ryan continued. "It's a simple way to differentiate them. Plus it helps keep the peace between them. Janet and Jennifer used to fight viciously all the time. It's not so bad anymore."

At this time on a Sunday afternoon there wasn't much traffic on the road. Slade grunted that he understood as he maneuvered the car between the few other drivers. They got to Mom's house entirely too quickly for Ryan's comfort. He spotted a curtain on the main floor twitch as they drove up to the secondary entrance that Tim and Ryan used almost exclusively. Edward was obviously home and yeah, he must be really twitchy to be watching traffic.

"You want me to come in?" Slade asked once they'd unloaded the trunk.

Tim looked at Ryan for his opinion. Ryan made a face. As nice as it would be to threaten Edward with Deathstroke, Edward wouldn't recognize him out of his uniform. Even with a little bit of blood on the collar of his shirt Slade wasn't obviously Deathstroke right now. And Slade did need to get their new equipment.

"No," Ryan said and shrugged. "We can handle Edward. He's actually pretty pathetic most of the time."

"It would be nice to have a number where we can contact you if something does happen," Tim agreed. "With Mother and Father out of town and Mom being not quite reliable when it comes to Uncle Edward a third adult contact would be helpful."

He offered his phone to Slade who programmed in a number for them to call. Ryan did the same, making sure that it was listed not as Slade Wilson or Deathstroke but as Emergency Contact number two. As he tucked his phone away Ryan saw Edward through one of the windows closest to the hall that connected their apartment to the rest of the house. Slade and Tim spotted it too, Tim glaring and Slade snorting.

"If you need help, call," Slade said. "I'm being paid a lot of money to train you to deal with assholes like that."

"We will," Tim promised.

"Thank you for the ride here," Ryan said, nodding his agreement.

They waved as Slade drove away and then climbed the stairs to the heavy duty steel door and its complicated computerized lock. Ryan stood guard while Tim unlocked it. Only once they were both inside did they relax as much as was possible while in this house. Ryan set down his suitcase and pulled out the crossbow.

"Recon," Ryan said.

"With you," Tim agreed as he pulled his throwing stars and tucked them into his jacket pockets.

Putting their clothes away and figuring out what was in their private fridge could wait until after they'd made sure that the perimeter of the apartment was still secure.

+++++

"Breathe," Tim murmured as they checked the windows and doors of their apartment.

Ryan winced and nodded as he worked on consciously controlling his breathing. "Sorry. You know how much I hate being here."

"Mmm-hmm," Tim agreed. "Me too."

They both went silent as they reached the wall that connected their apartment with the rest of Mom and Edward's house. It was supposed to be as heavily armored as the doors and bullet-proof glass windows but they'd found signs of Edward tampering with the structure before in his efforts to get inside. Tim wasn't sure what Edward thought would happen if he did manage to get in. Between Ryan's often-stated opinion that Edward should be dead and Tim's entirely vicious traps throughout the apartment Edward wouldn't last very long.

Not that Tim actually thought Edward was thinking. From what he'd seen Edward wasn't the most intelligent of people. When confronted with his triggers (BDSM or young children) his meager amount of intelligence dribbled out of his ears only to be replaced by unreasoning lust. Tim had to admit a moment later that he was being quite unfair. Edward, while obviously compulsively driven by his fetishes, was no idiot. His efforts to get Ryan or Tim alone so that he could presumably take advantage of them weren't stupid.

They were just incredibly short-sighted given all the training Mother had insisted on giving them, not to mention how harshly Mom dealt with every instance of Edward losing control over his compulsions.

"Tense," Ryan commented.

"Mmm, Edward," Tim replied. He sighed. "The trim on the doorjamb isn't quite right. It's shifted several millimeters. And the traps were sprung sometime since we left."

"All right," Ryan growled while glaring at the door. "Let's get this over with."

Tim nodded. He let Ryan open the door but reset that traps himself. On the other side the doorjamb had been torn off and inexpertly reapplied. Dents showed around all the nail holes and there were marks on the paint from where Edward had used a crowbar or hammer to pry it loose. Both Tim and Ryan rolled their eyes at that. The armoring inside the wall extended from one side of the house to the other, bisecting it so that their apartment was functionally a well-disguised bunker protected from any outside attack. Edward had obviously realized that the steel door was connected to an equally thick and heavy steel plate reinforcing the wall once he got the trim off.

"Ah, welcome home," Edward called from the far end of the hallway. 

He peeked out just enough that Tim could see his face. There was a resemblance between Slade and Edward but only a very superficial one. Edward had black hair that had gone prematurely white and bright blue eyes, just like Slade. Other than that they were completely different. Edward's jowly cheeks and slowly growing pot belly were the exact opposite of Slade's trim, muscular form. No one who looked at them for more than a second would ever mistake them for the other.

"We're reporting the intrusion, Edward," Ryan snarled.

"It wasn't an intrusion!" Edward gasped, eyes going wide with alarm.

"You attempted to enter our apartment," Tim countered in Janet's iciest tone of voice. "You damaged the trim and clearly were planning on removing the hinges so that you could get into our home. That's an intrusion. You know the consequences for your actions."

Edward's expression had some resemblance to desperation but mostly he looked hungry as he looked down the hallway at Tim and Ryan. He opened his mouth to say something that he probably thought was convincing while easing out into the hallway but Ryan fired a crossbow bolt at him at the same time that Tim threw one of his stars. The crossbow bolt hit him in the meaty part of the shoulder. Tim's star struck the center of Edward's right hand, wedging itself between the small bones in the palm of his hand.

His scream of pain shouldn't have been as satisfying as it was to Tim. The pleasure he took in it spoke to a level of sadism that Tim really didn't want to acknowledge, not with Mom and Edward as his sole examples of a SM lifestyle. Ryan's obvious enjoyment of Edward's scream was quite understandable. Tim had seen Ryan's scars and held him through countless nightmares over the last three years.

"Edward!"

Mom's bellow echoed through the house to them. Edward flinched so violently from his spot on the ground that Tim almost felt sorry for. Almost. Well, not really but there was a faint feeling of sympathy for the man now groveling while casting desperate looks in their direction as if he expected them to help him deal with Mom. Ryan snorted in disgust.

"He's been at the door again, Mom!" Ryan called back.

"Edward, don't move!"

That bellow was the sort of ice cold order that made Tim's spine lengthen by an inch while his testicles tried to crawl back up into his body. Ryan didn't seem as affected by it but Tim could see the way his crossbow shivered in his hand. It was his only tell, quickly stilled when Tim put one hand on Ryan's back for support. Mom appeared around the corner, striding straight past Edward to check out the damage done to the door frame. Her lips went thin as her nostrils flared in annoyance.

"Go back inside, boys," Mom said gently and lovingly. She might be horribly bad at realizing that Edward needed to be removed from the family but Tim had always seen how much she cared about both of them. "I've made sure that you have a full fridge and there are several treats for you."

"Any contact tonight?" Ryan asked. He took Mom's hand and then grinned as she chuckled and pressed a gentle kiss against his forehead.

"No," Mom said, kissing Tim's forehead too. "I'll be… busy with Edward, I'm afraid."

"Good luck," Tim offered even though she was already walking back to Edward, her heels hitting the hardwood floor with sounds like gunshots.

"Thank you, dear," Mom said. "Off you two go."

They went, sealing the door behind them so that they wouldn't have to see or listen to anything that Mom did with Edward. When Mom had altered this portion of the house she'd made very certain that it was completely soundproofed as well as completely secure against attack. Tim still fancied that he could hear Edward's scream through the door but it was only his imagination. Ryan set the alarms and then sagged a little in relief as Tim hugged him even though Ryan still had his crossbow in hand and Tim's pockets were still full of throwing stars.

"She'll deal with him," Tim murmured.

"I know," Ryan whispered back. "I know. I just hate having to come here."

"Me too," Tim agreed. "What sort of treats do you think she got us?"

"Probably expensive fruit or something," Ryan snorted with a grin at the blatant shift of conversation. "You know Mom disapproves of Mother's dessert thing."

Tim laughed quietly because loud noises never felt right in Mom's house. Her treats were indeed fruit, a cantaloupe that was perfectly ripe plus a pair of tiny watermelons that had their names on them. They were completely out of season and horribly overpriced at the moment so Mom must have been feeling very guilty about Edward's behavior. He had been getting worse over the last several years. Somehow, he seemed to think that Ryan moving into Tim's house meant that his 'last hope' was gone, not that he'd ever had any hope in Tim's opinion. But then Edward never had seemed to be terribly logical. Whether that was something that was particular to Edward or a characteristic of all pedophiles Tim didn't know. It was just disturbing.

"Quit thinking about it," Ryan grumbled. "You're getting worked up and then I'll get worked up and that would suck."

"Granted," Tim sighed. "I wish Mother hadn't had to leave."

"Yeah, I was looking forward to starting our lessons right away," Ryan agreed.

The rest of the evening was quiet. Ryan worked on his history paper while Tim finished his math homework. They studied the feeds that they'd managed to tap into around Gotham. Batman's network of video cameras was quite extensive and Tim was never sure whether he'd be blocked out or not. A great deal of his progress in computer hacking came from figuring out how to get illicit access to Batman's network. He still hadn't broken into the home system but that was all right. He knew exactly where the Batcave was and had since long before Ryan came to live with them. Eventually he'd figure out how to do it without being caught.

When bedtime came Tim curled up in Ryan's bed. Their apartment was too quiet, insulated from all outside noise whether it was Edward and Mom or traffic out on the street. Ryan's dreams, unsurprisingly, were disturbed but then so were Tim's. They woke several times during the night. Each time Ryan curled closer to Tim, shaking at finding himself back in this house. Someday Tim was going to tell Mother just how bad it was when they were here but so far he hadn't. He truly didn't want to trigger another all-out legal battle between their mothers. CPS would probably take both of them away and separate them to boot.

"Three days," Tim whispered around 2:00 am.

"No, two days," Ryan whispered back. "Yesterday's over."

Tim laughed against his neck and forced his breathing to slow, concentrated on slowing his heartbeat. As always the biofeedback technique did a lovely job helping him relax back into sleep, especially because Ryan did the same thing. By the time Tim dropped off they were breathing in unison, both of their bodies totally relaxed as they lay wrapped around one another.

Morning came with Ryan's alarm clock blaring music from one of the top twenty radio stations in town. Tim growled and slapped it off. Ryan moaned and wrapped a pillow around his head for a minute. Breakfast was a quiet affair, reminding Tim of the days before Ryan's arrival in Mother and Father's house. They ate half of the cantaloupe and had coffee plus a pair of wheat English Muffins with peanut butter on them. Neither of them even thought about lingering in the house until it was time to go to school. Staying here for any length of time was never an option.

Instead they gathered their school books and headed off to catch the city bus together. The school library was quiet, allowing them time to study before school started. They'd matched schedules two years ago so they were together all day long. At lunch they talked to their friends but it was pretty obvious that Ives realized that something was wrong. He joked all through lunch, trying to get Tim to laugh and Ryan to relax. It didn't work but Tim made sure to thank him for the effort. Even Ryan said thanks which was something given that he looked so tense that it made Tim's head hurt in sympathy.

"I don't want to go home," Ryan complained once the school day was over. He glared at the bus as it drove up.

"Neither do I," Tim agreed. "But we have our apartment and plenty of food for the next couple of days. It will be fine. Let's watch a movie together or something. The apartment is way too quiet."

Ryan nodded. "Always too quiet there. We should get some practice in too."

Both of them went quiet as they got closer to their stop. To Tim's surprise the bus turned down a different street than normal, waved off by a cop directing traffic. They got out at the next stop and walked back towards home. The closer they got the more police they saw. By the time the rounded the last corner and found police tape blocking them from reaching Mom's house Tim halfway expected what he saw.

The lawn was full of police officers. A dozen different police cars, ambulances and one fire engine littered the street. Louisa, the latest maid, was sitting on the bumper of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her, holding a cup of coffee as a police officer asked her question. Next to Tim, Ryan went very still. It took Tim a moment to see what he was looking at but once he did he clamped a hand around Ryan's arm to keep him from charging in or running away.

Two sealed body bags were being wheeled out on gurneys from the house. Through the door Tim could see blood covering the floor and walls of the entrance way.

"Hey, go on!" one of the cops called when he saw Tim and Ryan watching. "Get out of here. You kids don't need to see that."

"That's… our house," Ryan said so faintly that Tim looked at him with worry. His face was so white that he looked as though he'd been made of paper, not flesh.

"Yeah right," the cop snorted.

"It actually is," Tim said as he pulled out his phone to call Mother and Slade. "Ryan's Jennifer and Edward's son. I'm Ryan's cousin, Tim Drake."

As Tim dialed Slade first (he was close, hopefully, please let him be close), the cop went nearly as pale as Ryan. The gurneys rolled to a different ambulance from Louisa's as the cop ran off to get whoever was in charge of the crime scene. Tim ignored him, praying as the phone rang that Slade would pick up. Ryan was shaking so hard that Tim made him back up and sit down on the curb. No cars were going by so it should be safe enough. Hopefully.

"Yeah?" Slade snapped.

"Jennifer and Edward appear to be dead," Tim said and then had to hug Ryan because he keened high in his throat. "Can you please come? I need to take care of Ryan. And um, call Mother, too."

The cop ran over with Jim Gordon behind him as Slade cursed in Tim's ear and Ryan curled into a ball practically in Tim's lap. Gordon frowned at them, ducking under the warning tape to kneel in front of the two of them. Tim nodded at him but didn't put the phone down.

"I'm on my way," Slade said. "Don't let CPS take the two of you, got it?"

"No, we won't," Tim said. "Thank you."

Slade hung up just a second before Tim thanked him so Tim closed his phone and tucked it away again. He sighed and held Ryan, unsure how he felt at the moment. Mom had always been good to him but Edward had been such a huge issue. Whatever had happened today Tim knew it had to have been horrific. Gordon winced very, very slightly when Tim frowned at him.

"Did Edward kill Jennifer or the other way around?" Tim asked.

It had to be one or the other. Tim didn't think that Jennifer, Mom, would have lost control so badly that she killed Edward. No matter how mad she got at Edward she never pushed their 'games' to the point that she did permanent damage. But it was possible if Edward had fought back, had disagreed with her about his needing punishment. If she'd followed through on her often-stated threat of dumping Edward and turning him into the police then a battle would have been inevitable. There was so much potential for disaster in their relationship that a murder-suicide wasn't at all surprising.

"We're not completely sure yet," Gordon replied just warily enough that Tim wondered if they'd managed to break into the apartment yet. "It looks like they fought and then he killed her before killing himself."

"That makes sense," Tim said entirely too thoughtfully. He felt numb, as if his emotions had been shut off entirely. "They had been fighting a lot lately."

"Do you live here too?" Gordon asked.

He used a gentle, comforting tone of voice. It was strange after dealing with Mother's response to bad things happening, which tended to be very cold and determined. Actually, it rather reminded Tim of Mom's deliberate kindness and warmth at trying times. Ryan seemed to feel the same way because he clutched Tim's shirt and began to cry. His shudders were bad enough that it felt like his body was trying to shake itself apart.

"Normally we live at my mother's house," Tim said, rocking Ryan because there was nothing else he could do. "She had to go out of town for a business meeting so we came here to stay until she got back in a couple of days. We go back and forth."

"Do you know what's in the wing of the house with the traps and security system from hell?" the cop asked and then shrugged at Gordon's glare.

"That's our apartment," Tim explained. "Edward was a pedophile. Jennifer refused to throw him out. She knew that he wouldn't stay in prison, that he'd get access to other kids, so she kept him under her thumb. But she wanted Ryan and me to be safe while we were in the house so she made us a bunker, a place that Edward couldn't get into."

Both Gordon and the cop stared at Tim as if they couldn't quite understand what he'd said. Gordon had a disgusted but understanding expression on his face. Tim knew he was one of the few really good cops in Gotham. His research had shown him which police officers were most likely on the take and which weren't. The other cop whose name escaped Tim's shock-numbed mind just shook his head as if Mom, Jennifer, had been stupid.

Gordon stood up, brushing his knees off and then rubbing his back as if it ached. He looked back at the building, at what used to be their home. Tim looked too, grateful that someone had shut the front door so that he couldn't see the bloody interior anymore. Ryan was slowly going still in Tim's arms, not the sort of stillness that suggested that he was getting his emotions under control but one that was a lot scarier. Tim could almost feel his not-twin's personality draining out of his body.

"Did you call your mother?" Gordon asked after a moment.

"No, I called our martial arts instructor," Tim said. "He's in town. Mother's in LA right now, working with my father on a business deal."

"Probably need to get CPS on this," the cop muttered.

"Our martial arts instructor will be here soon," Tim said with a glare at the man that made both the cop and Gordon wince. "We're twelve. This isn't something we should deal with. Let him handle it until Mother and Father get back."

"Right," Gordon said. "Just… stay put, okay? I don't want you two trying to get inside."

"No, not at all," Tim replied. "We'll need to get our laptops and clothes from the apartment but it should still be sealed. We didn't get any notices from the alarms that someone had broken in."

Once again Gordon looked at Tim as if he wasn't sure what to make of him. Or maybe he was worried about Ryan who'd gone almost totally limp in Tim's arms. It didn't matter. Tim had promised years ago that he'd take care of Ryan and guard his back no matter what came their way. He wasn't going to fail right now. Once Slade showed up Tim would let him deal with the police and then Tim would call Mother so that she could come home. He had no doubt that Mother and Father would both come home. Father might think that the deal was very important but Tim knew that Mother would insist on being here for Tim and Ryan.

"It'll be okay," Tim whispered to Ryan even though he was pretty sure Ryan had retreated so far into his head that he couldn't hear Tim. "It'll be okay, Ryan. I promise. I'm here and it will all be okay."

+++++

Ryan knew that things were happening around him. There were voices and people touching him (Tim, Slade, other people whose faces didn't connect in his mind). They moved from the curb outside of his former house to a car that Ryan knew he should recognize. He didn't. He couldn't. He just couldn't.

Mom was dead.

She hadn't been the best mom, not compared to other kids' parents but she'd been Ryan's mom. No matter how bad she was at accepting that Edward was a creep who should be thrown in jail, she'd done her best to take care of Ryan. Every tool that he needed to keep himself safe, she'd given him. All the training, the protection, the care; it had been his for the asking.

Mom had never treated him like a stupid kid. His questions were always answered seriously and fully, even if Mom had to admit that she had no idea and needed to do research to find out what he wanted to know. He still remembered the day he'd asked why gas was so expensive. It had taken three weeks for Mom to fully answer the question, starting from how millions of years ago plants got compressed under rock until they became crude oil to how it was processed, distributed and sold and what taxes were imposed on it.

His mom was dead.

It hurt. It hurt so badly. He'd known that Edward was going to die eventually. What with his stupid behavior and horrible pedophilia it was inevitable that he ended up dead at Ryan's or someone else's hands eventually. He never thought that Edward would take Mom with him though. Mom had always seemed eternal, so fierce and perfect and intimidating that death itself would be afraid to come and take her away.

He'd been wrong, so very, very wrong.

Ryan should have killed Edward on the day that he nearly raped Ryan. It would have been completely believable, beyond the cops to object to Ryan killing a bastard who tried to rape him. He'd come really close but when that moment came where Ryan could have cut into the artery in Edward's thigh he moved his hand aside and let the man live. No matter how hurt Ryan had been, how scared and traumatized, he hadn't been able to kill his Mommy's husband.

And that was the thing that Ryan knew would probably happen in the future. Sure, he said that he was willing to kill. Ryan was pretty sure that if it came down to and he had to kill someone, there wouldn't be much guilt associated with the act. But he didn't want to kill people, not really. He wanted to protect them, starting with Tim and going on from there. Nobody should ever be hurt and alone and terrified.

"Quit badgering him!"

Tim's voice came through the fog, angry and frightened with that edge that said that he was on the verge of breaking into tears but fighting it off because he had something he had to do. It took a much too long moment for Ryan to realize that what Tim had to do was protect Ryan. Ryan was gone, hiding from the world by remembering his mom (perfect pale skin, pale pink lipstick and sleek brown hair that never had a strand out of place).

"We need him to answer questions," someone else said, a man, hostile, probably a cop not that Ryan's eyes seemed to be cooperating with him. "We need to know what he saw and then we need to discuss where he goes next."

"He saw his parents being carried out in body bags," Slade growled from behind Ryan so he was there too. "The kid's traumatized. Both of them are. Back the fuck off."

Ryan tried to blink his eyes. It took a moment but they blinked, prompting his eyes to focus. He was looking into his lap at his hands. Well, his hands wrapped around Tim's hand. Their knuckles were white so Ryan was squeezing Tim's hand way too hard. It took another too-long moment for him to register the pain in his knuckles, the strength of Tim's grip making the bones of his left hand grind. As soon as he did, Ryan could feel the heat in the too-small room and the pressure of Slade's hand on his shoulder.

Mom was dead. 

It wasn't the end of the world, the end of Ryan. 

Tim still needed him. He needed Ryan really badly or he wouldn't be squeezing Ryan's hand so hard. Ryan focused even harder, finding his breathing and speeding it up. The deeper, quicker breaths helped his mind open up, helped him feel more of his body. It was strangely like waking up except that Ryan was already awake. Really, it was like those meditation sessions that first therapist had put Ryan though after the rape attempt. Even all these years later Ryan was pretty sure that Dr. Crane had been trying to hypnotize him. Why, Ryan didn't know, but the tricks he'd learned from those sessions on how to make sure that he didn't fall asleep while he was still awake were really helpful now.

"I'm okay," Ryan murmured. No, that was just a mumble. Ryan tried again, lifting his head to look at Tim. "I'm okay."

"No, you're not," Tim countered but his face went from pale and determined to pale and delighted.

"Okay, no, I'm not, but I will be," Ryan said. 

He looked at the cop, no it was a CPS worker with two double chins and sweaty hands that matched the big sweaty patches under his arms and on his chest. The man was terrified. Slade's hand tightened on his shoulder for a moment before relaxing a little bit. It didn't go away so that was nice. Grounding.

"Who're you?" Ryan asked.

"Ah, I'm Alex Donovan," the CPS worker said with a patently fake smile that Ryan glared at. "I'll be managing your case. I'm sure we'll find you a very nice foster home, Ryan."

"You're not finding me a foster home at all," Ryan said, his fierceness coming back because no way was he trusting someone like that. "Mom had a very clear will that states that if anything ever happens to her I'm to go to my Aunt Janet and Uncle Jack, Tim's parents. I know the combination on the safe so it can be gotten from there but we've got copies of the will on file with our family's lawyer. I'm sure Tim's already told you his name. There's absolutely no need for a foster family."

"Well, our procedures…"

"Are crap," Ryan snapped over Slade's chuckle and Tim's growl. Alex jerked and opened his mouth to protest. "They're crap and you know it or you wouldn't be sweating through your clothes, Mr. Donovan. I have living relatives who are already designated to take care of me. You try and take me away and my aunt will sue you personally for everything you've got. She'll take on the city government, tear down every building to get at me. Aunt Janet is absolutely unstoppable and she's on her way here."

He looked at Tim who grinned and nodded. "She's coming. Mother should be here in the next half hour, actually."

Ryan blinked at him, surprised that he'd been out of it for that long. To him it felt like he'd been lost in his head for an hour at most. The flight from LA to Gotham took at least five hours, close to six depending on the weather in the midsection of the country. Add traffic on both ends and dealing with the airports and that meant that Ryan must have been catatonic for close to seven hours.

"I was out of it for that long?" Ryan asked, stunned.

"Six and a half hours," Tim said. He shrugged. "Slade stuck with us."

"Did you eat anything?" Ryan asked because if it had been that long and Tim hadn't it would explain why he was so pale.

"Uh, no?" Tim admitted with a blush that made his pale cheeks go bright red.

"We need to eat something, Slade," Ryan grumbled.

"There are still questions to be answered," Alex said, insisted as if using that tone of voice would get any of them to listen to him. "We have to follow procedure."

Slade's growl was threatening enough that Alex went pale as his forehead broke out in a fresh layer of sweat. Tim's hand clamped down on Ryan's hand as if he'd been keeping them from taking Ryan away by flatly refusing to let go. Ryan just snorted.

"You don't have the authority," Ryan snapped at him. Mother and Mom both used that line when they wanted to send someone packing. It almost always worked, especially when the opponent was as nervous and frightened as Alex was. "We're going to get food. Don't get in our way. Our lawyer will contact you so don't contact us."

Ryan stood, pulling Tim with him. Their backpacks were sitting along the wall so Ryan grabbed his and passed Tim's over. Slade stood between them and the now-spluttering Alex as if he really, really, really wanted to use several weapons on Alex. Before Alex could do more than splutter and protest incoherently, Ryan pulled Tim out the door and towards the front door.

They were in the police station. Ryan saw Commissioner Gordon off on one side of the room. He looked startled to see Ryan pulling Tim towards the door but none of the police officers tried to stop them. No one seemed to want to get close. When Ryan looked over his shoulder Slade smirked at him. Edward might not have realized who Slade was but it looked like all the cops did. He wondered for a moment if Alex had known that he was facing down Deathstroke and his two newest trainees but that didn't really matter. All he wanted was to get out of here and back home, back to Mother and Father's house where he really belonged.

"Ah…" Commissioner Gordon called across the room.

"We're going home," Ryan snapped at him while Tim laughed under his breath. "If you have any questions you can go through my mom's lawyer or talk to Aunt Janet. Mr. Donovan can keep his questions and his sweatiness to himself."

Commissioner Gordon coughed into his hand to hide the laugh that made his eyes wrinkle up. "Glad to see you back with us, Ryan. We probably will have more questions on why your mother didn't turn your father in."

"She didn't trust the courts or prisons to keep him from hurting other kids," Ryan said and shrugged. "And Edward wasn't my father. He was my step-father, at best. Mostly he was just that creep that Mom kept around."

Even the cops who were visibly terrified of Slade snickered at that. Tim grinned and took Ryan's hand. They left the station with Slade on their heels. His car was in the big parking garage next door so they made it back to his car quickly. Tim's hand clamped down around Ryan's hand when they got there, prompting Ryan to realize that he'd been slowing down and fading away into his head again.

"I'm messed up," Ryan commented.

"Not a surprise, kid," Slade said pretty kindly for someone who was one of the top assassins in the world. "Death will do that to you. Go on. Get in."

Tim made sure Ryan's seatbelt was fastened properly and that his backpack was there to hug. His hand kept reaching out to touch Ryan as if to make sure that Ryan was still there. The constant touch helped a lot. Ryan found himself leaning into Tim's side just so that they could be in constant contact. Slade frowned at him in the rear view mirror.

"I can cuddle if I want to," Ryan said to that mirrored frown.

It turned into a smirk, even if Ryan couldn't see what Slade's lips were doing. "You certainly can but I get to worry about you either way, kid."

"I don't want to be messed up about this," Ryan murmured to Tim because Slade was Slade and it was good to feel safe with him there but Tim was _Tim_ and Ryan trusted him with everything. "I don't. I'll miss Mom but I haven't been in her house for more than a week at a time in years."

"She was still your mom," Tim murmured back to him. "And Edward hurt her, killed her. It's okay. You get to be upset about it."

Ryan snorted and laid his head on Tim's shoulder. "I don't mind being upset. That's to be expected. It's the messed up in the head part that I don't like."

He jerked when Tim poked him in the side. The amusement in Tim's eyes reminded Ryan of how many times they'd talked late at night, after everyone was asleep and no one could overhear about just how messed up their respective childhoods had made them. Ryan knew perfectly well that the constant vigilance and suspicion of older males came from Edward's rape attempt. Tim admitted freely that his quietness and need for control came from the way Mother and Father had left him alone as a child. Both of them worked to control their issues but it was hard.

"Stop that," Ryan grumbled at him. "Losing chunks of time is different."

"I can see that," Tim agreed as Slade parked behind their home. "It was pretty scary from this side, too."

"You okay?" Ryan asked. He fumbled with his seat belt because he was staring at Tim instead of watching what he was doing.

Tim shrugged. He had the no-expression face on so Ryan had to believe that Tim was just about as messed up as Ryan was by this whole mess. By the time they got out of the car Slade had both of their suitcases out. Ryan winced because he really, really, really must have been out of it not to have known that someone had gone into the apartment to get their things. 

Mrs. Mac opened the side door of the garage and hurried over to all but knock Ryan down with one of those hugs that squished you right into her chest. He squawked and squirmed as much as he could but Mrs. Mac wasn't having any of that. She held him until he groaned and relaxed into the hug. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, per se. It was just kind of hard to breathe and her chest was really squishy and Ryan was pretty sure already that he wasn't ever going to find breasts attractive.

"I am so sorry you lost your mother," Mrs. Mac said once she let him go. "Good riddance to that horrible man but poor Jennifer was a good woman."

"Thanks, Mrs. Mac," Ryan said.

Tim had one second to squawk before he was enveloped in a similarly crushing hug. He struggled longer than Ryan had, somehow managing to squirm around so that he could breathe a bit easier. Ryan looked up at Slade who had a strange expression that mixed amusement, bemusement and a sneer.

"Can you teach us how to escape that?" Ryan asked.

"There is no escaping love!" Mrs. Mac declared as she let Tim go. He gasped for air, prompting Mrs. Mac to pat his back.

"Give it up, kid," Slade chuckled. "That's one I can't help you with."

"Good," Mrs. Mac declared before either Tim or Ryan could say anything. "Don't you even try. Now come inside. I have made a special dinner for the boys with my very best blackberry cheesecake for dessert. Miss Janet will be home soon. You will all take care of each other and it will be much better now."

The way she said it made her words into a threat of severe consequences if they didn't comply instead of something more comforting. Tim grinned at Ryan behind Mrs. Mac's back, nearly sending Ryan into a giggle fit that he was pretty sure would have ended in hysterical tears, more smothering hugs and possibly Mrs. Mac picking him up and carrying him back to the house like he was two instead of twelve. He managed to swallow the giggles down by promising himself that he'd allow them later, when it was just him and Tim alone. Slade's lips were twitching as he tried not to smile.

"She's always like that?" Slade asked.

"No, most of the time she's very quiet," Tim explained around his own efforts not to smile. "But when something bad happens she gets… forceful about taking care of us."

"Inside!" Mrs. Mac yelled, making Ryan and Tim both jump.

"Forceful is a good word for it," Slade chuckled. "Let's go."

Dinner was already laid out, waiting for them. Tim and Ryan both washed their hands. For once Ryan was the one who had to be stopped from washing too much, not Tim. By the time they got back to the dining room Mother was there with Father, who looked like he expected both Tim and Ryan to burst into tears at any moment. Ryan ignored him entirely, going to Mother and hugging her even though she looked like she'd rather do anything but hug at this moment.

"He went catatonic for a while," Tim observed as Mother gently, cautiously, awkwardly patted Ryan's back.

"Hmmm, we'll have to arrange for psychiatric visits," Mother said in a similarly 'trying to be detached' tone of voice.

"Anybody but Dr. Crane," Ryan said. 

He let go of Mother and then shivered because she was and always would be the image of the mother that he'd lost. Well, other than the deep red lipstick and hair cut in a style that encouraged the impression that her hair had been carelessly windblown while it was actually perfectly styled. Ryan shook his head when Mother petted his cheek.

"I'll be okay," Ryan said. "I'm not yet but I will be. I just… I think you know, Mom. She wasn't perfect but she was my Mom, just like she'll always be your twin."

Mother's usually fierce eyes went sad as she pulled Ryan in for a hug and then pulled Tim into the hug too. "She will always be my twin. And I will always regret that we never worked our issues out. Don't let life drive the two of you apart."

"No, ma'am," Tim said.

"Not a chance," Ryan agreed. He had a million different things he wanted to say but they were all tangled up in the tears he wouldn't show anyone but Tim. Instead of trying to say them, Ryan looked at the food. "Let's eat. Neither of us have eaten since lunch."

"Good idea," Father said, visibly relieved to be back on ground that he could deal with.

He started serving out food for all of them except Mother, making sure that Tim and Ryan both had way more food than they could eat. Tim looked a little disgusted by that but Ryan knew why Father did it. In the middle of a tragedy that he couldn't fix, Father did what little he could do to take care of his family: he fed them. Ryan had asked Mother many times why she'd married Father when he was so different from her. Her reply that there was something to be said for the ones who were always there for you, one hundred percent constant in their affections and easily understood hadn't made much sense at the time but right now having Father urge them to eat as if a full stomach made everything better helped his emotions settle.

Ryan reached out under the table to nudge Tim's foot. He smiled and put one foot on top of Ryan's. No matter what, they had each other. Even if he lost everyone else, Ryan knew that he could make it through with Tim by his side. And more importantly, as long as Ryan stayed with Tim, he knew that Tim would make it too.

+++++

"Incoming."

Ryan's warning was quiet but urgent enough that Tim moved back into the shadows instead of following the trail of the kidnapped little girl onwards. The street around Robinson Park was quiet at midnight. Only a couple of cars went by every few minutes. Tim knew that in two hours there would be many cars weaving by carrying people, fresh from the bars, who were going home. The car he heard approaching was nothing like those.

It was the Batmobile.

Tim slipped a little further into the shadows and went still. Ryan was at his right shoulder, blending into the darkness perfectly with his suit. Slade hadn't understood at first why they'd gone for such dark suits when both of them made it clear that they had no real interest in being imposing at this point in time. They were too short yet to go for impressing the people they encountered on the streets. Only once he'd seen the way they could effectively disappear into the darkness had he nodded approval. 

Shadow and Aperture weren't Batman and Robin after all. There was no need for them to be flashy or intimidating. Ryan's Shadow outfit was basic black cargo pants and a long-sleeved black shirt with armor under both. His boots were just boots. The mask covered the lower half of his face while goggles covered his eyes and a hood, usually worn down, could hide his head. His black belt had dozens of pockets and the shirt and pants had even more, all filled with things that were useful out on patrol. Tim's Aperture outfit was very similar. Really, the only way to tell them apart was that Tim's goggles had a camera built into them and he had a small insignia on his chest that represented a camera's aperture opening or closing. It was grey and red, small enough that he could cover it with two fingertips but it was sufficient for Tim's desire for identification.

The Batmobile screeched to a stop near the entrance to Robinson Park. Batman leaped out and ran into the park. Robin didn't follow him. It took a moment to realize that Robin wasn't with Batman. Tim looked at Ryan who nodded with the same worried urgency that Tim felt. They followed Batman's trail, quickly tracing him to the section of the park that Poison Ivy had claimed as her home. Even at a distance they could hear the battle going on inside.

"You get Robin," Ryan murmured, trusting their private comms to carry the words to Tim, "I'll back Bats up."

"Don't get caught," Tim told him.

"You either," Ryan replied.

Robin was, in fact, caught in Ivy's vines. He was struggling weakly. As the seconds went by his struggles got more and more sluggish. Tim hurried to his side, trying to be very aware of the vines that weren't curled around Robin's struggling body. A small vial of fast-acting herbicide made the vines holding Robin shrivel and back away. When Robin was released he collapsed on top of Tim, nearly knocking both of them to the ground. All Tim could think as he struggled to get Robin, Jason, to move was that he was very glad that Dick wasn't Robin anymore. Tim wouldn't have been able to move him by himself.

"Come on," Tim snapped at Jason. "We need to get you out of here."

"B…" Jason wheezed. It sounded like his throat was closing up so Tim pulled out an emergency dose of adrenaline and pushed it into Jason's wrist. He gasped. "Need to help B."

"Shadow's helping him," Tim said. "Move! We need to get you out of danger right now."

Jason peered at Tim, frowning behind his bright green mask before looking at Batman, Bruce, who was holding his own very well against Ivy. Ryan's thrown darts were an effective distraction that Bruce used to great effect. Jason nodded and let Tim haul him out of the greenhouse and back towards the Batmobile. His legs weren't terribly coordinated and Tim had to support the majority of his weight but halfway there Ryan appeared and wedged himself under Jason's other arm.

"Who…?" Jason cleared his throat before trying again. "Who are you two?"

"Aperture and Shadow," Ryan answered. "Nobody important, really. Not like you and Batman."

"We happened to see Batman drive up and came to help when we realized you weren't with him," Tim agreed.

"Shouldn't be doing this," Jason grumbled as they deposited him by the Batmobile. "Too little."

Tim checked his pulse, his throat and the marks on his arms and legs. They were all swelling. Even with the adrenaline Jason was still having an allergic reaction to whatever Ivy had done to him. Ryan stood guard, watching so that no one would come after either of them. When Tim reached to check Jason's belt for a more specific antidote to the pollen Jason caught his hand.

"You're having a severe allergic reaction, Robin," Tim told him. "My dose was just adrenaline. It's not enough."

"Oh," Jason said, rubbing his throat before thumping his head against the Batmobile. "Second pouch from the left."

His medicine worked much better. Moments after Tim injected it Jason's swelling began to go down. Once he wasn't struggling to breath he stared at Tim and Ryan as if trying to figure out who they were and why they were there. Once he took in their size he glowered as if he wanted to yell at someone.

"We're not that young," Tim sighed as he stood up.

"We're just short," Ryan said cheerfully, so cheerfully that Tim glared at him as always. "What? You always glare when I say that."

"You can tell that it's a glare?" Jason asked, a grin tugging at his lips.

"Hey, I've been dealing with those glares forever," Ryan snorted. "Trust me. I know when it's a glare."

"Stupidly cheerful about being short," Tim grumbled just loud enough that Jason could hear it.

The way Jason laughed made Tim's heart do flips that he absolutely wasn't going to examine while on the streets. They all went still as something exploded back in the greenhouse. When Tim cocked his head at Ryan, he held both hands up (one holding his staff at the ready) to say that it wasn't him. Jason shrugged when Tim looked at him. Tim shook his head that he wasn't to blame for it, flinching when another explosion went off.

"We should go," Tim said.

"Agreed," Ryan said. He looked at Jason who was working on standing up and not doing a very good job of it. "You're good?"

"Eh, I've been better," Jason said. His not quite casual shrug almost knocked him off his feet when he swayed. "Lots better but I'll live. B's not going to be happy about a couple of kids out here."

"And you weren't a kid when you started?" Tim countered as he and Ryan headed for the shadows.

Jason's complaining growl at that was more or less wordless though Tim thought he heard some profanity mixed into the noise. It made Tim grin behind his mask. Batman was coming though so there was no time for talk or even the banter that Slade said was absolutely necessary when meeting other vigilantes on either side of the line. Tim truly didn't want to deal with Bruce's disapproval at this point. Ryan apparently felt the same way because he was several paces ahead of Tim instead of behind him. Rather than switch their order when Ryan was just as good at tracking as Tim was, Tim followed his lead.

They ran onwards around the Park, locating their target at the tiny block of warehouses on its far side. Mother hadn't been very pleased about their going out on a real patrol but Slade was out of town and a five year old girl kidnapped by a known child pornographer and pedophile wasn't something that she would stop them from pursuing. She had insisted in proper trackers tucked into their suits and had muttered something about upgrading them so that they would have them all the time in the future.

"Inside?" Ryan murmured.

Tim nodded agreement as he studied the well hidden warehouse's almost completely hidden lights. "You get the girl, I'll get him."

The little warehouse was more like a storage unit that had been converted into a studio apartment. There was a bed on one side surrounded by lights and cameras that looked to Tim's eye to be professional quality. The girl was lying on the bed, boneless in drugged sleep. Ryan went straight for her while Tim ran straight at the man. He was short, only 5' 8" tall, with a trim body that looked as though he lifted weights. Nothing would indicate that he was a pedophile other than how erect he was when he turned to point a shaking gun at Tim.

Tim broke the wrist holding the gun with his staff and then quite deliberately crushed the man's testicles. Two more strikes took out his knees. He'd require major surgery to be able to walk properly again. It felt quite appropriate given the images Tim could see on the man's computer. Another strike took out his elbow and then a final one got his shoulder, all of them breaking bone.

The screams the pedophile made were… rather too satisfying.

"Yeah, I heard screaming and there's this little girl," Tim heard Ryan saying to 911. "No way, I'm not getting anywhere near those screams. It sounds vicious in there. Yeah, she seems okay. Fell asleep like she was drugged but doesn't look hurt."

Tim left the man sobbing and moaning so that he could check the girl and Ryan. She looked fine, asleep and untouched, thank goodness. Ryan, on the other hand, was shaking slightly. He finished the call with 911 quickly, refusing to stay on the line. As soon as he hung up Tim hugged him.

"You okay?" Ryan asked.

"I'm fine," Tim said. "Mostly. Broken wrist, crushed testicles, broken knees, elbow and shoulder."

Ryan snorted a laugh and then lifted his head. He'd tuned into the police band while Tim was listening to Batman's strangely silent comm. Tim nodded that they should go when Ryan looked at him curiously. They disappeared into the shadows just as the police showed up to rescue the girl and arrest the pedophile. 

Together, they made their way back across Gotham, watching and occasionally stopping minor crimes. Tim was relatively certain that Bruce had figured out that he'd tapped into his comms because there wasn't one peep for the rest of the night. It made sense. Bruce would have to take Jason back to the Cave and make sure that he really was okay. In fact, it was possible that Batman wouldn't go out for more patrol after he got Jason to safety.

Still, Tim watched for anyone following them. Ryan was doing the same thing, especially as they got closer to home. Only once they were both certain that it was safe, that no one was following them, did they sneak back into the mansion. Mother was, of course, waiting for them. Father was off on another trip so they didn't need to be extra quiet. Slade obviously wasn't back from his hit because he wasn't there either.

"Found her," Ryan said as he pulled off the mask and goggles. "She's okay, untouched, just drugged."

"The kidnapper is on his way to the hospital with ah, severe injuries," Tim agreed as he removed his own gear with relief. "I think I tightened the goggles too much."

Ryan snickered. "You do have ridges around your eyes."

"So do you," Tim countered.

They gave Mother a full report. She nodded thoughtfully as Tim told her about Batman and Robin's more effective antidote against Poison Ivy's toxins, noting something down. Probably a reminder to look into getting them something similar. By that time the adrenaline had worn off so Tim was dragging. A quick snack, a shower and then bed followed in quick order. Ryan crawled into bed with Tim as always, cuddling him.

"Robin was cool," Ryan murmured.

"Yeah," Tim agreed, that flutter in his chest coming back.

"You have such a crush," Ryan snickered against Tim's neck.

"I do not," Tim protested. "Robin is cool. You said it yourself."

All he got in reply was more snickers. There didn't seem to be a point to arguing about it, not when they'd done so well tonight. Tim focused on his breathing and relaxed into sleep, grateful for the feeling of Ryan's body next to him to ground him against the nightmares that he knew would be coming. Despite his expectations, it was a fairly good night. Tim and Ryan only woke up twice from their dreams. Two nights later, as Tim was working on the comm system for his and Ryan's suit with Slade's assistance, it unexpectedly beeped.

"Ah, hello?"

Tim stared at Slade who raised one eyebrow and passed the half-reconstructed comm to him. "Robin?"

"Hey, I did find the right channel," Jason said with enough pride in his voice that Tim laughed quietly. "Cool. B's not pleased with you two."

"Because we were out there or because of the damage we did?" Tim asked. Ryan appeared at the door, drawn by their voices.

"Little of column A, little of column B," Jason chuckled. "I'm kind of grounded at the moment so I figured I'd try and find out more about you two."

"I don't believe it's in our better interests to satisfy your curiosity, Robin," Tim snidely enough that Slade gave him a thumbs up and Ryan had to clamp a hand over his mouth.

Jason snorted. Tim could hear him shift around. It sounded like he was someplace large, someplace that echoed. He must be in the Cave, watching the monitors that Tim knew had to be there. Tim hoped that their much smaller room gave Jason fewer cues about his environment but there wasn't much to be done about that. At least this way there was some level of interaction and Tim had to admit that he wanted that interaction with Jason.

"Awww, come on," Jason said, his voice stretching the 'on' out into several syllables. "You can at least tell me why that creep got bashed that bad."

"I believe that the best way to phrase it is that Shadow and Aperture both have issues with pedophiles," Tim said. He was only aware after the words came out how much he sounded like Mother.

"Brrr," Jason replied. "Man, and I thought I hated those creeps. You sound like it's personal."

"Moderately," Tim said. He forced himself to use a more normal tone of voice. "Well, maybe more than moderately. All right, quite a lot, actually."

There was silence from Jason's side of the comm. Tim could just hear harsh breathing, as if Jason had put his hand over his microphone so that Tim wouldn't hear him. Ryan hugged Tim, pressing his ear against the ear that had his receiver in it. After a moment Tim snorted.

"Robin, do stop making up tragic stories in your head," Tim said. "Really now, 'personal' doesn't always mean 'sold as a child sex slave' or whatever nonsense you're conjuring."

Jason's laugh was a beautiful thing that made Tim's heart lurch and dance in his chest. Ryan's hug helped him from giggling like a little girl, as did the amusement in Slade's eye. At least Mother wasn't listening into this conversation. Tim wasn't entirely certain he could have handled that.

"Okay, fine," Jason chuckled. "It's… kind of personal for me too. Just sayin'. I am curious where you picked up those skills though. Those were some pretty damn precise strikes for someone your age."

"Heh, let's leave it at us having some very… skilled instructors," Tim said.

"Really damned skilled," Jason said. "Like pro-skilled."

"Quite so," Tim agreed while smiling at Slade who had a hand over his mouth so his chuckles wouldn't be heard over the comm. "And no, I won't tell you who our instructors were. That would violate our agreements with them and well, it would be rather stupid. Secret identities are secret for a reason."

He got another one of Jason's laughs, this time rather rueful. Tim wished desperately that he could see Jason laughing in person. It would have been so nice. The few times he'd seen Jason at parties that Mother and Father made them attend Jason had been surly and withdrawn, not laughing like this. Ryan's hug got a little tighter, as if he knew how much Tim wanted this, needed this.

"Okay, fine," Jason said. "I'll let that one go."

"I'm afraid I have to let you go," Tim told him as Mother appeared at the door.

"Trouble?" Jason asked in a tone that made Tim think that he wanted to rush out and find them to help.

"No, I have to finish the maintenance on our comms," Tim said so dryly that he was sure to get another of those laughs. "You're interrupting."

This time Jason's laugh was full of spluttering. It quickly died into snickers of amusement. Both of Mother's eyebrows were so far up that they were almost to her hairline. She didn't look like she approved of the conversation at all. Ryan patted Tim's shoulder before going to whisper what was going on in Mother's ear. Her expression went surprised and then considering once he'd done so.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop bending your ear then, Shadow," Jason said.

"Are you sure I'm not Aperture?" Tim asked, amused that Jason had gotten them mixed up just like so many others did.

"Wait, are you?" Jason asked as if completely shocked by the idea.

"Are you sure you haven't spoken to both of us?" Tim asked, aiming for Ryan's slightly deeper tone of amusement. Jason cursed vividly enough that Tim laughed. "Goodnight, Robin."

Tim shut off the comms as Jason spluttered more curses at him. By Mother's side Ryan was grinning and bouncing on his toes. He tackled Tim for a hug as soon as Slade confirmed that there was no way for Robin to be listening in on them now. His laughter made Tim laugh too. After a second Slade was chuckling and Mother was smiling at them.

"He can't tell us apart!" Ryan crowed. "That's so awesome!"

"Eventually they'll figure it out," Tim said and no, that wasn't a giggle. "Eventually."

Ryan rolled his eyes and snorted. Tim couldn't help but hug him for it. It was inevitable that Bruce and Jason figured out who they were but for the moment they'd managed to fool Robin. The sheer fact that they'd done it, even on something as small as which of them was which, made him grin so hard that his face hurt. It felt really good.

Even better, he'd gotten to talk to Jason. That was the best thing ever.

+++++

"This is so cute," Ryan chuckled as Tim scanned the rooftops for Batman and Robin. He trusted their masks to keep anyone from hearing the chatter. They were pretty good at muffling his and Tim's voices.

"Shut up, Shadow," Tim hissed at him.

"No, really, it's adorable," Ryan insisted. "You two are really seriously cute as you flirt with each other."

"They're trying to shut us down," Tim complained. "It's not flirting."

He glared at Ryan, the goggles and mask not doing a thing to hide the expression. Ryan knew Tim too well for his ire not to be obvious. They really shouldn't be having an argument when they'd finally found the home base of Gotham's latest group of child slavers. Tim had already confirmed that there were at least twenty kids being held below them. All of them were from the worst part of town where no one would dare to go to the police to report a lost child. Honestly, the police would probably ignore it anyway. Kids 'ran away' all the time though Ryan was convinced that most of Gotham's lost kids were stolen, not run-aways.

"Batman's trying to shut us down," Ryan countered as he worked the lock on the warehouse's skylight. "Robin always flirts with us, or more accurately you."

"That was only twice," Tim grumbled as he returned to scanning for anyone who might stop them. "And one of those was the thing over the comms. It wasn't flirting."

"Totally flirting," Ryan disagreed. "You know perfectly well it was flirting. Adorable flirting, too. Ha! Got it. We're in."

"Into what?" Robin asked as he swung down out of who knew where to land next to them.

He had to dodge two staffs aimed at his head before Ryan and Tim could process that it was him. Jason grinned at them as they backed down, Tim with slightly shaking hands and Ryan with a grin that was probably visible despite his mask. Nightwing landed behind Robin, staring at them with open curiosity.

"So these are your new boyfriends, Little Wing?" Nightwing said in nearly as obnoxious a tone as Ryan's had been. "They're cute!"

"They're not my boyfriends!" Jason growled with just as much offense as Tim had a moment earlier.

"Nah, just Aperture," Ryan said as he checked below and confirmed that no one had noticed Robin and Nightwing's arrival. "You're definitely not my type. Don't like older guys that much."

Nightwing, Dick, had to silence a cackle of delight behind one hand as Tim smacked Ryan upside the head. Jason's mask didn't hide his blush nearly as well as Tim's did. They, Tim and Jason, looked like they both wanted to self-combust or maybe beat everyone and everything into a pulp. It wasn't a bad thing to be feeling, not when there were child slavers to deal with.

"Time to get to work," Ryan said.

"At what?" Nightwing asked curiously as he looked into the skylight and then hissed in dismay. "How'd you find these guys? They're seriously bad news. Kids shouldn't be dealing with stuff like this."

"That's what I keep telling them," Jason said as he got ready to smash the glass.

Tim stopped him and then opened the skylight with one hand. Just the way he stood, head cocked a few degrees to the left, implied the raised eyebrow. No surprise, Jason's face went even redder while Nightwing snickers had to be muffled by two raised hands. Ryan lightly smacked Tim's shoulder before pulling out his gear for rappelling. The others might be able to jump down and roll so that they weren't hurt but Tim and Ryan needed a little more support. Besides, their gear should let the kids get out too if they couldn't fight their way through the slavers. Multiple possible exits were always good. If all of that failed there were always Ryan's explosives.

"You two are really well equipped," Nightwing murmured.

"Of course," Ryan said. "So are you."

"It's only logical to be prepared before going into an unknown situation," Tim said.

He joined Ryan on their tandem gear, sliding down into the warehouse among the kids. Their gear was virtually silent so the kids didn't notice them at first. Ryan moved to them and began removing the cuffs keeping them from running while Tim stood guard. Jason dropped next to him, followed by Nightwing a moment later. Nightwing came over and helped Ryan with the handcuffs.

"Are you Robin?" one of the kids whispered, staring at Ryan with awe.

"Nope," Ryan said as he nodded at Tim and Jason. "That's Robin over there. I'm Shadow. The other one is Aperture."

The kid looked like she wanted to ask more questions but a shout rang out from the other side of the warehouse. Ryan and Nightwing got the last of the kids free just as the slavers came running in, weapons at the ready. He could hear people coming from all directions so Ryan gestured for the kids to stay put. They huddled together, clinging to each other.

"Come on, we need to get them out of here," Nightwing said as he tugged at Ryan's shoulder.

"Agreed." 

Ryan shrugged the hand off and ran to the closest wall of the warehouse. Behind him, Tim started breaking bones and cracking skulls with Jason's help. Three quick movements that seemed entirely too slow had the special shaped charge that Slade had designed attached to the wall in a spot between support columns. Nightwing's eyes went wide as Ryan pushed the five second timer and shoved him back.

Every single one of the kids screamed when the shape charge went off, blowing a beautiful person-sized hole in the wall. The slavers shouted but that was probably more due to surprise than anything else. Ryan gestured to the kids, pointing at the hole in the wall. He was really, really glad that it didn't take anything more to get them moving. They ran for the hole with Nightwing and Ryan guarding their backs.

"That was insane!" Nightwing said. Well, it was more of a grunt as he did an incredible spin-kick-flip thing that Ryan didn't think he could ever do, no matter how hard he tried.

"No, it wasn't," Ryan countered while using all the skills that Slade had beaten into him to take down the slavers trying to stop the kids from escaping. "It was efficient!"

"Insane," Nightwing countered but he was laughing.

Ryan made sure all the kids got out, hoping that they'd make it away before the slavers regrouped. Slade had to be out there somewhere, watching them, so hopefully he'd ensure that the police were on the way. No way would he not monitor them to see how they did on their first real battle. Tim was doing very well over by Jason's side. He was fast and efficient, plus absolutely brutal about breaking bones. Jason seemed almost as brutal but he pulled quite a few of his punches.

One of the slavers nearly clocked Ryan so he stopped watching them and focused on taking his aggressions out on these creeps. They weren't Edward but they might as well have been. No one who thought it was okay to steal kids from their parents or the streets and sell them as sex slaves deserved gentle treatment. Ryan broke the jaw of one, smashed the rib cage of another and then set to work on breaking as many hips as he could. Surprisingly quickly he ran out of hips to break.

"Deathstroke?" Nightwing asked with enough tension in his voice and body that Tim slipped to Ryan's side. "You were trained by Deathstroke?"

"No way," Jason said as he joined Nightwing.

"Interesting that you know him well enough to identify his teaching style," Tim commented.

He stepped backwards and to the side, positioning himself by the gear they'd left behind. Ryan joined him, mirroring Tim's movements so that they became virtually identical other than the little insignia on Tim's chest. Jason stared at them with his mouth open as if he wanted to say something but didn't know what. Nightwing's frown turned into surprise.

"I think you guys can handle things from here," Ryan said in Tim's tone of voice.

"We've got places to go and things to do," Tim agreed in Ryan's more cheerful tones as they grabbed the gear and triggered it to carry them back up to the skylight above. "Have fun!"

"Aperture!" Jason shouted. "Damn it, you can't keep doing this!"

"Leaving?" Tim said and Ryan could hear the amusement in his voice. "Sorry Robin but yes, we can keep leaving."

They were up and out of the skylight before either Jason or Nightwing could say anything further. Slade was there, smiling at them through his mask. Ryan pulled his gear up before Nightwing could grab it. Tim was already running for the next roof over with Slade on his heels so Ryan followed suit. Behind him he heard the thump of either Nightwing or Robin's grapple line firing. He jumped and rolled over to the next roof, following Slade's brighter silhouette. He couldn't see Tim though he could hear his feet pounding on a metal roof somewhere close by. It took a moment to home in on Tim mostly because they were both running. Just as he made it back to Tim's side so that he could keep Tim safe their comms activated.

"Damn it, N, I told you that they were good," Jason said in a growl worthy of Batman.

"You didn't say that they were trained by Deathstroke, R," Nightwing said and no one who was moving that he had to be should sound that unflustered. He wasn't even breathing hard. "Kids, you have to stop doing this."

"Why?" Ryan asked as calmly as he could, which was probably pretty good given that he heard a stumble behind them. It was probably Jason.

"It's not like we're training to be assassins," Tim agreed in the same calm, cool tone of voice. "You should be nice to our uncle. He could have sent us out with no training at all."

That time there was a double stumble that made Ryan grin. Slade barked a laugh as he dropped off the edge of a roof only to land on a fire escape that Ryan hadn't realized where it was. They scrambled after him only to hear Nightwing and Jason following suit. It turned into the most awesome game of tag and seek that Ryan had ever experienced.

Up one building, across rooftops and through a portion of Robinson Park that was a haunt for gang members instead of Ivy; Nightwing and Jason followed them as if they'd been tethered to Ryan and Tim. Slade peeled off after a bit, signaling that he was going to get the car. Tim nodded and led Ryan straight through a group of gang members who were obviously plotting major trouble. They couldn't be doing anything else with all the automatic weapons and clubs they were carrying.

"Hey!" one of the gang members bellowed.

Their indignant bellows turned into shouts of shock and outrage as Jason and Nightwing ran straight into the middle of their group. Ryan grinned behind his mask as he realized that both of them stopped to take the gang members down. A moment later Slade screeched to a stop in front of them with the passenger door open. Tim dove in first, scrambling out of the way so that Ryan could follow him. Slade was chuckling as he burned rubber to get away.

"No fair!" Nightwing called through the comms.

"Too bad," Tim replied with a giggle that made Ryan grin and hug him. "Maybe another time, Nightwing."

"I'm sure Aperture will call you soon, Robin," Ryan sang and then laughed as Tim belted him hard in the arm. "It was such a good date, you know."

"Shadow!" Tim squawked in time with Jason.

Nightwing's laughter was a wonderful thing, even relayed through the comms. "Pity no one got pictures of them together."

"Speak for yourself," Slade said as he dodged the car through traffic, going away from home and towards one of the safe houses he'd set up. "I have plenty."

"Aaagh!" Tim groaned. "Quit teasing, all of you!"

"Goodnight, Nightwing, Robin," Ryan laughed as Tim smacked him again. "Have fun with your new playmates!"

That got Jason laughing as well as Nightwing. He was pretty sure that Bruce had to be listening in on them. He didn't really care at this point. Ryan's whole body was vibrating with excitement, not so much from the fight but from the chase. Next to him, Tim was quivering just as bad. His grin wasn't as wide as Ryan's but it still showed despite his mask. Slade shut off his comm as did Tim. Ryan left his on until Slade gave him a hard look.

"Fine," Ryan sighed. "I'll stop teasing."

Shutting off the comm shut off Jason's cursing and Nightwing's snickers. They drove into the hidden garage about thirty seconds after that. Ryan wasn't very clear on how he got out of the car or how they ended up upstairs in Slade's apartment. There was entirely too much adrenaline running through his system for that. He would have sworn that his fingers were tingling from how excited he was.

"That was awesome!" Ryan said once he'd taken off the mask, goggles and comm.

"It really was," Tim agreed. 

He was giggling under his breath. Ryan was pretty sure that Tim had no idea that he was giggling that way. Normally when Tim giggled he cut it off almost immediately but this time the laughter went on until Ryan hugged him tight. Slade shook his head at the two of them, herding them to the bathroom for showers. It was big shower, one of the ones with multiple shower heads and pristine glass around it so Tim and Ryan used the same shower while Slade disappeared to the kitchen with a muttered comment about pizza and tranquilizers for the two of them.

"They, they didn't catch us," Tim said once they'd showered the sweat off.

"You know that's because Nightwing was seeing what we could do," Ryan said.

"I know, I know," Tim agreed. His hands shook as he grabbed two towels, passing one to Ryan. "But, but, but it was Dick and they didn't catch us, Ryan. We played rooftop tag with Dick and Jason."

Ryan peered at him and then grinned so broadly that Tim went beet red. "Two crushes!"

"I do not have a crush on Dick!" Tim squawked.

He pushed Ryan, not a serious push like what Slade and their other instructors had taught them. It was one of the shoves that the other kids in school used when annoyed at someone else. Ryan rocked with it for a second and then grabbed Tim for a hug that he struggled against. They wrestled for a moment before Ryan slipped and they both tumbled to the bathroom floor. Tim ended up on top of Ryan, holding him down. They laughed and laughed and laughed until Ryan couldn't breathe and Tim collapsed into a giggling mass on Ryan's chest. Ryan wrapped his arms around Tim's back, hugging him through the laughter.

"Okay, now I'm tired," Ryan sighed once they caught their breath.

"Mmm."

"Get up, you two," Slade snorted from the doorway. The smell of pizza with everything on it wafted through the door. "Food and then you sleep for sixteen hours or so."

"Mmm…" Tim sighed, shaking his head no until Ryan poked him. "Okay fine."

The pizza was really, really good. Ryan was very aware of it as he chewed and swallowed. Unfortunately his exhaustion was way stronger than the power of good pizza. He barely made it through two pieces before Slade picked him up by the back of his sleep pants. Tim was already over Slade's shoulder making grumbling noises about the pressure on his belly. Ryan grumbled as well but only until Slade wrapped an arm around his waist and carried him off to bed.

"Get some sleep, you two," Slade said.

Unlike Mother, Slade didn't even bother to put them in separate beds. He set Ryan down on the foot of the bed, pulled the covers back and plopped Tim in the middle of it. Ryan shuffled over and collapsed against Tim's side, hugging his not-twin who sighed and hugged back. The covers settled over them like magic except that it was Slade, not some fairy godmother taking care of them.

"Thanks Slade," Ryan muttered.

"What for, kid?" Slade asked in that vaguely embarrassed tone of voice he reserved for occasions where he was feeling especially fatherly and felt guilty about it.

"For not separating us," Ryan said and smiled as Tim snored in his ear. "Helps."

"You're welcome," Slade chuckled. "Sleep."

Ryan let his head flop back onto the pillow. Excitement was still thrumming through him, much less now as exhaustion caught up with him. The whole night flowed through his mind four times before Ryan jerked out of his light doze. He pulled out of Tim's arms and stumbled out into the living room where Slade was cleaning his guns while watching the news with the sound turned down low. He raised an eyebrow at Ryan, not that he stopped working.

"The kids got out safe?" Ryan asked. He had to lean against the wall to keep from collapsing.

"They're safe, Ryan," Slade reassured him. "The cops are getting them home. I made sure of that. Go back to bed."

"Yes sir," Ryan mumbled.

He stumbled back to bed, finally able to relax now that he knew the kids wouldn't be hurt that way. Tim was half-awake when he got there, tugging Ryan into another hug that tangled their legs together and made the bed seem that much warmer and more welcoming. As he dropped asleep Ryan felt Tim press a gentle kiss against his forehead.

"Sleep," Tim whispered.

Ryan did.

+++++

Ryan watched from his hiding place on top of the dinosaur's head as Batman drove into the Cave and then staggered as he out of the Batmobile. It was only for one step but that one step spoke volumes about how exhausted and worn down he was. Alfred was there with dinner that was ignored and coffee that Bruce took a sip from only to glare at Alfred.

"I'm fine," Bruce growled, only then removing the cowl and giving Ryan a target to shoot at.

His stubble-covered cheeks, dark bags under his eyes and sweaty hair made that into a total lie. Ryan smiled at the way Alfred sniffed and raised his eyebrow. Even Mother wasn't that good at nonverbal smack downs. Unfortunately, Bruce seemed to be so exhausted and heart-broken that he didn't respond to the disapproval.

"Master Bruce," Alfred sighed as he picked up the drugged coffee, "I have watched over you and cared for you since you were a small boy. I would like to think that by now I have learned the difference between you coping and not."

Bruce's shoulders hunched inwards for a moment before he straightened his spine and sat at perfect attention at the keyboard. Ryan rolled his eyes. Perfect posture wasn't being perfectly in control, no matter what Bruce and Mother thought. He carefully aimed the dart gun, waiting until Alfred cleared his throat and looked significantly at the plate of untouched food.

"I'll eat later, Alfred," Bruce said in a tone that pretty clearly meant the opposite.

"Master Bruce," Alfred sighed. 

He nodded once as if accepting that but he looked towards Tim and Ryan's hiding places as he did it. Ryan nodded and fired. The faint puff of his dart gun made Bruce start to turn but Ryan's aim was good enough that the dart still hit him squarely in the meaty part of his neck just above the edge of his collar. Bruce tried to raise one hand but he only got it about three inches off of the keyboard before the drug took effect, rendering him paralyzed.

"Okay, he's stuck for ten minutes," Ryan said as he climbed back down off the dinosaur's head. "And if you have any common sense left in that grief and exhaustion-addled brain you'll stay still another ten minutes after that. Moving too soon gives people severe nausea. Staying still means no side effects."

Bruce glared at Ryan. His fury was obvious even if Bruce would have a very hard time talking, should he attempt it. Tim hadn't reappeared from his hiding place. That was okay. It would be better if Bruce focused on Ryan instead of Tim. Ryan wasn't the one grieving. He'd like Jason well enough but he hadn't been (quietly) head over heels in love with the guy like Tim had.

"Yes, Alfred helped me," Ryan said. He smirked at the start of surprise in Bruce's eyes. "You're fucking up. Big time. Oh no, don't you even try and deny it! You're fucking up, Bruce Wayne. I was here all along and you didn't even notice it, did you? You were so tired and so locked up into your head that you didn't even see that someone was hiding in your Cave, waiting to attack you."

"Nnnoo," Bruce growled, or at least attempted to growl. It came out more like a moan, slurred and wrong from the drug keeping him from moving.

Alfred sighed. Ryan knocked Bruce's helpless hands away from the keyboard and called up the monitors in the cave. They showed Tim and Ryan coming in, Alfred suggesting places to hide and then, before Bruce could see where Tim was hiding, Ryan cut it off. He looked at Bruce whose expression was still frozen but there was a lot more horror in his eyes. Maybe it was for Alfred 'betraying' him but Ryan thought that it was pretty sure that Bruce was horrified that he'd missed something so obvious.

"Right, you're 'fine'," Ryan said as he crossed his arms on his chest and leaned against the monitor desk. "Yeah, really fine. So 'fine' that you missed two boys hiding out in your cave, waiting to attack you. You didn't see the glint of my goggles, didn't notice the gun pointed at you. Didn't have any awareness that you might be under attack. Okay, yes, this is your safe place, your secret cave where no one can get at you. There's no real reason for you to expect attack here."

Bruce was glaring again but the glare was a lot less intense than it had been. Ryan's mental clock was ticking down the seconds until the drug wore off. He really hoped that Tim would be able to get another shot in, one that took Bruce down for at least twelve hours.

"That doesn't change this, though," Ryan said and made sure that his expression was as disapproving as it could possibly be.

He searched through the monitors can called up the battle that had decided Tim on intervention. It was every bit as brutal as he remembered it to be. Bruce didn't seem upset by it until Ryan paused the recording as Bruce left the scene. Ryan turned and looked at him, tapping the screen right on the bat on Bruce's chest.

"Forget something here?" Ryan asked.

"Mmn?" Bruce grunted, visibly puzzled.

"You have three people bleeding out," Ryan said, pointing to the three men who had batarangs entirely too close to arteries. "You also have two men with flail chest, one of them with severe internal bleeding. What did you forget to do before leaving the scene, Bruce?"

To Ryan's relief, Bruce's eyes went wide with horror as the blood drained from his face. Ryan nodded and leaned against the desk again.

"The only reason those five men aren't dead," Ryan said in his best approximation of Mom's 'time to learn your lesson' voice, "was that we were there. First, you used excessive force. Vastly excessive given that they weren't even committing a crime when you landed on them. Second, you failed to administer first aid. Third, you didn't call 911 to notify them that there were people who needed to be arrested. Or more accurately, people who needed to be taken to the hospital before they were arrested."

Ryan checked the medical condition of the five men, sighing that all of them were still alive. One, the one with major internal organ damage was in critical condition and it was unsure whether he'd survive but the others looked like they would survive to be tried for whatever crimes the police could pin on them. When Ryan looked at Bruce this time he looked ashamed. His fingers were twitching, a little sooner than they should be but that was to be expected given Bruce's ability to concentrate and the short duration of his paralysis drug.

"You nearly killed five men tonight," Ryan murmured. "I don't like Batman. At all. I think there are better ways to solve problems than dressing up like a bat. However, I do respect Bruce Wayne's strength of will and determination to become Batman. Shut up, Batman and Bruce are practically different people."

"Trrrue," Bruce allowed, a hint of triumph in his eyes that he'd managed to say the word.

"So, because Aperture's stuck on Batman being a symbol of good," Ryan explained, "and I can see that you're not going to stop, you've now got a new partner. Or, more accurately, two new partners."

"No!" Bruce snarled. His arms jerked but he didn't have enough control of his body yet. The nausea that came from moving before the drug had fully worn off struck, making Bruce shudder and swallow hard.

"It's not optional," Ryan explained. "We're not going to be there to train with you. We're already trained. We're not going to be there to help you. Neither of us think you'd be good for us or that we'd really be good for you."

"Why?" Bruce asked. "Why dooo it?"

There was sweat on his forehead and he swallowed repeatedly as if trying to keep his stomach from revolting. Ryan snorted and looked over his shoulder at the screen where Batman was frozen as he left five men behind to die. Alfred's expression when Ryan turned around was stern and approving. He took the tray of food, nodding once as he left the cave. Ryan smiled and turned Bruce's chair just enough that he had to stare at Ryan, not at the screen. It also did a great job of exposing his neck to Tim's dart, always assuming he was still in the same hiding spot.

"Not for you," Ryan said quietly. "For Gotham. You're on the edge, Bruce. You're going to kill someone if you're not stopped. That's what we'll be there for. To stop you. But that's tomorrow, or better yet the next day. Tonight, you're going to sleep. Tomorrow you're going to bathe because, frankly? You stink. Really, really bad. You're going to shave and put on clean clothes and act like you're a normal, sane human being. You're going to eat the food that Alfred prepares for you. And then you're going to come and visit our house so we can talk about how this is going to work."

"I can't," Bruce said. The two words were a low moan more than anything resembling speech.

"Can't sleep?" Ryan asked. He smiled when Bruce blinked his eyes slowly to nod. "You will."

Tim's dart gun puffed from the shadows of the Cave. His dart hit right next to Ryan's. Whatever Alfred had chosen must have been a very fast-acting sedative because Bruce barely had time to widen his eyes before it took effect. He slumped in the chair, eyes sliding shut and body going limp. Ryan checked Bruce's pulse as Tim came out of the shadows.

"He's alive," Ryan said. "Good strong pulse. Should be fine."

"You were really tough on him," Tim commented. He didn't sound as if he disapproved. In fact, it sounded like he thought it was a good idea.

"I have no problem playing bad cop with him," Ryan said. "You're the one with the major case of hero worship, not me. Personally I think you should hit him with the disappointed puppy eyes when he shows up tomorrow."

Tim chuckled and nodded. Together they rolled Bruce's chair from the monitors over to the infirmary area of the Cave. Alfred showed up and helped them get him up onto a gurney. They stuck around long enough to help Alfred strip the suit off, which confirmed to Ryan that Bruce really hadn't bathed in days because he was horribly stinky. After that Alfred sent them home, back to Drake Manor next door.

Mother was, of course, waiting for them when they got home. She frowned at their expressions, shooing them both to their bathroom to get cleaned up. Father was home, probably asleep, so neither Ryan nor Tim said anything as they made their way upstairs. Ryan wasn't sure what Mother had told Father about their nightly activities. Tim seemed to think that she hadn't told him at all but Ryan thought that was ridiculous. Deathstroke had been training them and Father had seen their equipment more than a few times. He wasn't stupid. He just wasn't that good at getting involved with their lives.

"Do you think he'll listen?" Tim asked as they showered together.

"Eh, he'll listen or we'll keep on him until he gets it," Ryan said. The sweat usually made the hair on the back of Tim's head go solid matt so Ryan spent some extra time on that. "I do think the mistakes he made hit him hard. My only question is how coherent he actually was tonight."

"He really hasn't slept anywhere near enough," Tim agreed with a tired sigh. "Don't stop."

"Nope, knots like whoa back here."

Tim snorted in amusement and Ryan laughed. Once he'd gotten all the knots out of Tim's hair, Tim returned the favor. By the time they were clean Ryan was actually tired despite the adrenaline of confronting Batman in his lair. Mother was waiting for them, sitting on the end of their bed as if it was the power chair in a conference room. Given how much Ryan wanted to get to sleep he supposed that was the most powerful place for her to sit.

"Report," Mother said.

"Yes, ma'am," Tim said through a huge yawn. "Batman is on the verge of losing control and killing someone."

He explained everything that had happened, including Ryan's impromptu presentation to Batman. Ryan was able to tap into the Cave's computer system to show her what they'd seen. Tim's shots with his goggle cam confirmed it. Mother's lips went so thin that they practically disappeared when she saw them cleaning up after Batman left the site of the battle. She held up one hand to hush them.

"He will be coming here?" Mother asked.

"Probably tomorrow," Tim confirmed. "Ryan told him he was to sleep, bathe and eat first but there's no guarantee he'll do it. He's…"

"Not dealing with the grief well," Ryan finished for him. He yawned, shaking his head sharply to try and get rid of the post-patrol exhaustion. "At all. Almost as bad as I did, just in a different direction."

"I'll call Slade and have him available," Mother said as she stood. "Off to bed with the both of you. I hadn't wanted you to get involved with Batman or his protégés but I suppose that this is one of the circumstances that demands it."

"Um, will Father be home tomorrow?" Tim asked nervously enough that Mother stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. Her fingers tightened just enough to dent the robe he was wearing.

"He has an all-day customer audit tomorrow," Mother said with a little snort of amusement. "I don't expect him back until well after dinner as he'll be going out with the customers afterwards. Batman chose an excellent day to demand an intervention."

Ryan started snickering at that. Tim grinned. Mother patted Tim's shoulder and pressed kisses to both of their foreheads before leaving them to get into bed. As always, they slept together, wrapped around each other. It was always easier to sleep when they were holding someone else. Tim sighed and hugged Ryan.

"I wish…" Tim started to whisper and then stopped.

"Jason?" Ryan asked.

"Would have liked to cuddle with him," Tim sighed.

"I know," Ryan whispered as he rubbed Tim's back. "I know. Maybe someday there'll be someone else who can hold us, someone for you and someone for me."

"At least we have each other now," Tim agreed with a tiny nod and hug of thanks. "Would be a lot harder if I was alone."

He buried his face in Ryan's shoulder, quickly controlling his breathing until he fell deeply asleep. Ryan stayed awake a little longer, fretting over what they would have to do to get Bruce over the worst of his grief. Tim would certainly try and be what Bruce needed, the smart, active boy who backed him up if Ryan wasn't there. It probably wouldn't work terribly well given how driven Bruce was. But he was pretty sure that Tim's desire to protect Gotham, to be perfectly what he needed to be would be very good in combination with Ryan's absolute refusal to accept anything but perfection from Batman.

Batman was a symbol. He couldn't be human, not if he wanted to survive. Just like Brucie wasn't who Bruce Wayne really was, Batman wasn't really him either. As much as Ryan respected Bruce's fierce desire to protect Gotham's innocents (it was way too much like Tim for him not to respect it), he knew that he had to be vicious about holding Batman to a higher standard.

Maybe having someone who didn't look at Batman with awe and respect would help Batman move away from the edge he'd been treading. If that didn't work Ryan would talk to Slade and Mother to see if they had any suggestions on what to do next. One way or the other no way was Ryan going to let Batman become what he'd fought against for so long.

+++++

"Do you think I could call him?" Tim asked even though he knew that Ryan would tease him for it.

"Jason?" Ryan asked. He was draped over the foot of their bed, one leg kicking in the air as he read a book lying on the floor. "I suppose but you know he and Bruce went to Ethiopia. You'd probably just get a message."

"I know, I know," Tim sighed. "It's just been a while since we heard anything from him."

Tim was supposed to be working on his English paper but getting words onto the screen wasn't happening. Every time he started typing his mind went blank. The last time he'd talked to Jason he'd been unhappy. Jason hadn't explained exactly what was wrong but it was fairly clear that he'd been conflicting with Bruce a lot more lately. They argued about proper methodology, how much force was acceptable and a great many other things that Tim and Ryan also disagreed with Bruce on. He was fairly certain that Bruce had tried to forbid Jason from talking to them but that hadn't lasted more than a week before Jason was finding them on patrol again.

Still, their last talk had been about Jason's mother and how much he missed her. Tim was fairly certain that the trip to Ethiopia had something to do with his mother but he hadn't been able to track down much on Jason's childhood. There simply wasn't much in the public record and the non-public records were very securely locked down due to Bruce and Oracle's work.

"I'm sure he's fine," Ryan said as he gently nudged Tim with one foot. "Quit staring at the screen and do some kata, Tim. You're not getting anything done this way."

His understanding smile was much better than the teasing that Tim had expected. Tim smiled back before nodding and putting his laptop into sleep mode. The kata did help. They always helped Tim clear his mind. There was something about controlling his breathing and movements so precisely that allowed him to clear away the worries that haunted his mind. Ryan nodded after a moment and came to join Tim. It was harder to do the kata in the middle of their bedroom but doing them around and with Ryan helped even more.

"Tim, sit down."

Slade's grim voice startled Ryan into tripping and Tim into a start that he blushed over. When Tim looked at Slade his face was so still that it made his stomach clench. Ryan took one look and hauled Tim to the bed so that they could sit together, Ryan wrapped around Tim as if to protect him from whatever the bad news was. It had to be bad news. Slade wasn't supposed to be here, not when he'd given them his approval and stopped training them a few months ago.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked. He wasn't surprised that his voice came out weak and thin.

"I just heard through the grapevine that…" Slade paused and then sighed. He sat next to them, hugging both Tim and Ryan. "Jason's dead. The Joker was in Ethiopia, Tim. He killed Jason. Bruce is bringing his body back right now. I'm sorry."

The words didn't make any sense to Tim. He understood each of them individually but putting them together into something that conveyed meaning was impossible. Ryan said something that sounded horrified but those words made even less sense. Slade's rumble of a voice shivered along Tim's skin as if it was sliding under his clothes but Tim couldn't parse the words, couldn't discover the meaning of them.

He couldn't.

Jason and dead didn't belong together. Jason and Joker didn't belong together either. They were nonsequitor, nonsense phrases. There was no way that Jason, big strong Jason, could be dead. He couldn't be. The last year that Tim had been not-dating Jason had been the best in his entire life. Someone other than Ryan found him interesting, enjoyed spending time with him. No one as bright and full of life as Jason Todd, the second Robin, could be dead.

"How?" Tim asked, distantly aware of the fact that Ryan and Slade had been talking over his head. "How did he die, Slade?"

"You sure you want to know, kid?" Slade asked. His expression was worried but the hand slowly rubbing over Tim's back was comforting.

"I need to know," Tim replied.

Slade's sigh and the pinched look around his good eye told Tim a lot about how bad it had to have been. Several times during Slade's rendition of the horrors of dying by the Joker's hand, Tim had to stop him so that he could breathe deeply in an effort to keep from hiding away in his mind the way Ryan had when his parents died. Being betrayed by your birth mother was bad enough but to be beaten nearly to death and then blown up was even worse.

"Bruce…" Tim said and then had to stop because his stomach decided to try and expel everything he'd eaten that day. "Bruce is… grieving?"

"Don't know, kid," Slade said but his expression suggested that yes, Bruce was messed up by losing Jason this way. "The Joker's alive. Superman kept him from taking the Joker down for some damn reason. That much I know."

"He can't kill," Ryan protested. "Don't look at me like that, Slade! If Bruce started killing he'd never stop. He'd be worse than any of the criminals in Gotham if he let himself cross that line."

"Can't disagree with you on that," Slade admitted with an entirely too tired sigh for someone who was as indestructible as him. "I'm going to talk to your mom. You two going to be okay?"

Tim nodded even though he knew that neither Ryan nor Slade believed him. Ryan's nod apparently reassured Slade enough that he left the room. As soon as he was gone Ryan wrapped himself around Tim, holding him tightly. It wasn't like being held by Jason but it never had been. Jason was, had been, oh God, past tense should never be applied to Jason!

"You can cry," Ryan murmured against Tim's forehead.

"Gone," Tim whispered as the tears started falling despite Tim's efforts to stop them. "He's gone. It's not fair."

"No, it's not fair," Ryan agreed. His arms tightened around Tim and then relaxed a little when Tim squirmed. "It'll never, ever be fair. It just is."

Ryan held Tim until he cried himself to sleep. When he woke up they'd been covered with a blanket and Ryan was asleep too. Tim carefully eased out of his arms and went to check on his surveillance feeds in the Batcave. Bruce was back, unshaven, obviously exhausted and so grim that he looked like a completely different person. Alfred came into view and his face was too thin, gaunt and pale with grief.

"Mrph," Ryan grumbled from bed. "Tim. Come back to bed."

"Bruce isn't sleeping," Tim commented as he carefully disengaged from the feeds and shut his computer off.

"This is a surprise?" Ryan asked rhetorically. "We'll keep an eye on him. If he gets too out of control I'll drug his ass and dump him in the cave."

Tim snorted a surprised laugh against Ryan's back as he spooned with him. "Might work. It'll infuriate him."

"Eh, he never has liked us," Ryan mumbled. "Nothing new there."

The next several weeks were hard. Tim had a horrible time focusing on his school work but Ryan was always there to help him through it. Going out on the streets was hard too, though for entirely different reasons. Before Jason's death, Bruce had kept his distance from them as if he was worried about encouraging them by even interacting with them. Afterwards they encountered Batman at least twice a night. Every single encounter included Bruce threatening them if they didn't stop patrolling and Ryan telling him he was being a big bully who needed to sleep, bathe and eat, not necessarily in that order. 

Tim generally let Ryan handle the encounters. The hero worship Tim had always had for Bruce, for Batman, was much less than it used to be now that he was a hero in his own right but it was still there. Ryan had absolutely no respect for Batman though he did respect Bruce's determination and drive to make the world a better place.

"He is such a jerk!" Ryan growled as they slipped away from the latest encounter with Batman.

"I don't think he's gotten more than three hours of sleep in the last five days, Shadow," Tim said. "It's not a surprise that he's acting out."

"He's still a jerk," Ryan complained in a much quieter tone of voice.

They kept watching Batman through the monitors and out on the streets. It was increasingly obvious that he was going to cross the line sometime soon. Ryan's complaints about him took on more worried tones while Tim calculated out how close Bruce was to crossing the line each night. After two months he had enough.

"We have to stop him," Tim told Ryan.

"Bruce?" Ryan asked as they watched Batman beating up some of Two Face's thugs to the point that they might never walk again. "Yeah, no duh. I've been saying that for ages."

"No, really," Tim said. "We have to stop him. I know you don't want to work with him but he's not going to pull himself back from the edge. We have to do it for him."

Ryan's Shadow mask didn't hide the way his jaw dropped open in surprise. Even with the goggles it was obvious that his eyes were wide. After a moment watching Batman reduce the men to sobbing, bloody wrecks, Ryan nodded. They were safe in the shadows that were such good camouflage as Batman fired his line and then left the men behind without so much as calling the police. Tim sighed as they swung down and administered emergency first aid, Ryan talking to 911 on his comms.

"That was wrong," Ryan grumbled once the police showed up with a bunch of ambulances at their heels.

"Very wrong," Tim agreed. "Do you think Nightwing would come back?"

"No," Ryan sighed. "It would be better if he did but he and Bruce are just not talking right now. He's got his own grief to deal with. He's not going to come back, Aperture."

"Then it has to be us," Tim said as firmly as he could with his stomach trying to turn flips.

Ryan nodded. Making their way to the Batcave was easy enough but the security there was tight enough that Tim didn't think they could hack their way in without being caught. Instead, they went to the Manor and slipped into the kitchen where Alfred was making a late night / early morning snack for Bruce. He started and stared at them, eyes going hard until Tim pulled off his goggles and slipped his mask down around his neck.

"He almost killed some of Two Face's men today," Tim said without introductions or preambles. "He's losing his way, Alfred."

"You should not be here, Master Timothy," Alfred said. "I am aware of his… problems… but it is being handled."

"No, it's not," Ryan countered as he pushed his goggles up onto the top of his head. "Tim's being literal, Alfred. He came within two minutes of bleeding three men out and there's a chance that two more will die from their injuries no matter what medical care they get."

"He didn't call the police before leaving the scene," Tim added. Alfred's eyes went wide and then shut as his whole body went still as stone. "He's losing his way. He needs someone to ground him."

"He needs someone to drug his ass, dump him in bed so that he sleeps for about twelve hours and then to bathe and eat some real food," Ryan complained. "I mean, come on! He's nearly as bad as Tim!"

"Hey," Tim complained mildly enough that Ryan snorted and Alfred's lips twitched into a smile despite the worry and tiredness making him look years older than he actually was.

Alfred looked at the food that he'd prepared, going to a cabinet beside the refrigerator to pull out what looked like a bottle of sedatives. Ryan grinned at him, holding up his tranquilizer gun. That made Alfred raise one eyebrow and Tim laugh at the two of them.

"Ryan has a sedative that we developed that induces temporary paralysis," Tim explained. "It wears off in half an hour, though it's wiser to stay still for another fifteen minutes after that. Between his sedative and yours maybe we can get him to sit still long enough to listen to reason. I mean, if you're willing to let us help? We haven't actually wanted to work with him all that much but we can't let him go down the wrong path. It would be horrible for Gotham."

For a long moment Alfred stared at Tim as if trying to read his true intentions in his eyes. Whatever he saw there seemed to reassure Alfred because he nodded gravely. Tim forced his shoulders to relax even though his stomach wasn't calming down at all. Taking down Bruce Wayne, Batman, wasn't going to be easy even if Alfred was on their side. If he really was. Hopefully he was. Gotham and Bruce both needed this, no matter what Bruce thought about the matter.

"Is it possible to put a different sedative in your darts, Master Ryan?" Alfred asked.

"Not mine," Ryan said. "They're sealed units. Tim's can be changed out though."

"Sometimes I use gas darts instead," Tim agreed. "So Ryan hits him first and I'm the backup with a stronger sedative that knocks him out?"

"Indeed," Alfred said, smiling that they'd caught on so quickly. He was quick and professional about changing the contents of three of Tim's darts from tiny gas canisters to his sedative. "This will be rather dangerous, you understand. Master Bruce has not been at his most stable of late."

"We wouldn't be here if he were stable right now, Alfred," Tim said seriously enough that Alfred smiled at him. "Really, we wouldn't. He might not like that we're out on the streets patrolling on our own but we are doing it. He's not going to stop us no matter how much he disapproves. He's not the only person in the world who has reasons for being a vigilante. Ours aren't the same as his but they're equally valid."

Alfred nodded thoughtfully at that, giving the refilled canisters back to Tim. He led the way down into the Cave, making sure that they were recognized by the security system. Tim did his best to memorize the passwords Alfred used even though they would likely be changed once Bruce woke up. One way or the other, they would need to be able to get back into the Cave at will so that they could deal with Bruce.

"How long has he known who we were?" Ryan asked once they were watching Bruce's progress home on the monitors with Alfred.

"Several months," Alfred said. "Master Bruce had allowed Master Jason and Master Dick to deal with the two of you. He felt that they would be… better suited to discouraging you while testing your intentions. After… He felt it was best to take a more active role once we lost Master Jason. I think he expected that you would not wish to continue."

"We didn't start patrolling because of Batman and Robin," Tim explained at Alfred's sidelong look. "There was no reason to stop and every reason to continue. Things have been a lot worse since Jason died."

"Quite so, Master Timothy," Alfred said in a tired, worn tone of voice that hurt to hear. "Quite so."

Tim looked at Ryan who looked at Alfred. Ryan tapped Alfred's shoulder and then hugged him when the older man turned his way. The surprise on Alfred's face made Tim laugh quietly. He leaned in and carefully hugged Alfred too. With Dick not coming back to the Manor there couldn't have been many hugs for Alfred or Bruce lately. To Tim's shock, Alfred's arms wrapped around their backs to squeeze firmly.

A moment later he cleared his throat so they let go. Alfred's cheeks had a spot of color on them as if he'd almost blushed at the affection. Ryan grinned and then jerked his chin at the monitors. Bruce and the Batmobile were within a mile and a half of the Cave.

"Time for us to hide?" Ryan asked.

"Indeed," Alfred said. "If I may be so bold as to suggest locations?"

"Please," Tim said. "You know the Cave better than we do."

He stood and led them away from the computers, towards several of the displays along the wall. Tim checked his gear as the followed Alfred, restoring his goggles and mask to their proper positions. This was going to be difficult even if they managed to drug Bruce immediately. Everything that Tim had seen said that Bruce was going to resist their decision to help him. Even more so, he wasn't going to want to admit that he was on the verge of crossing the line.

"We'll succeed," Ryan whispered to Tim through their private comm channel.

"I hope so," Tim whispered back. "I just wonder how hard it's going to be to get through to him."

+++++

Bruce showed up at the Drake manor at 3:45 pm. He was clean, well shaved, dressed in and impeccable suit and tie and so furious that Tim thought he could see steam coming from his ears. His fury didn't bother anyone, as far as Tim could tell. Tim thought it was quite justified given what he and Ryan had done the previous night. From the way Slade slouched against the wall in the corner of the drawing room, he thought Bruce was too tired and worn down to be a threat.

And Mother just smiled her coldest, most cutting smile as she gestured for Bruce to take a seat on the couch opposite her, Tim and Ryan.

"So nice of you stop by," Mother said, her voice warning Bruce to check his attitude before she did it for him.

"Nice of you to bathe first," Ryan snorted. He glared at Mother when she turned to frown at him. "He was stinky!"

"He really was," Tim agreed. "It was quite unpleasant helping undress him last night. I didn't know that someone could smell quite that… rancid."

Rather than let Mother glare at him, Tim started pouring tea for all of them. Across the coffee table Bruce winced at Tim's description of his personal hygiene lately. He took his cup of tea gratefully though he did wait to see that Mother drank some of hers before trying it. Tim added lots of milk and sugar to his and Ryan's cups. Mother's black tea was a little strong in Tim's opinion.

"They need to stop this," Bruce said to Mother.

"We won't," Tim said because it wasn't Mother's choice.

"Ever," Ryan agreed. "And stop appealing to Mother. She's not the one that made the choice to go out there. We did."

"I simply insisted that they be properly trained and equipped," Mother said so smugly that Slade chuckled. "They are young but they're quite capable of going out on their own even if I forbid it. I prefer to retain some level of control over their activities so that they don't take unnecessary risks. Before you ask, confronting you last night was a risk I would have preferred them not to take however it is quite clear that you're out of control. That's unacceptable."

Bruce's nostrils flared in anger and his fingers clenched on the handle of his teacup so hard that they went white. After a moment of all four of them staring at him with their own versions of an uncompromising expression, Bruce sighed and leaned back against his couch. Tim almost believed that his sudden submission to them was real, except for how tense his legs were and the way his eyelid twitched as he resisted the urge to make some sort of face.

"We're not going to be Robin," Tim announced. He smiled as Bruce stared at him, visibly confused. "We have names already and we're not changing them."

"We're not your allies, either," Ryan agreed. "How much do you remember of our conversation last night? I mean, how much did you remember before reviewing the recordings?"

"That's relevant?" Bruce asked with a belligerent tilt to his chin.

"Very," Tim said gently as Ryan glared. "We're not the only ones who think you're crossing the line, Bruce. I didn't have that drug before we arrived. I had gas canisters in my darts, not sedatives. Alfred gave me that sedative. He loaded into my darts himself."

Once again, Bruce's face went pale as he realized the implications of that. Alfred not only tried to drug his dinner, he allowed two unknown parties to invade Bruce's Cave, drug him and question him without interference. It was a completely different thing if Alfred believed that Bruce was in danger of breaking his moral code than it was if relative strangers believed it. Tim nodded and sipped his tea again, letting Bruce think for a moment. When Bruce looked up with a vague question in his eyes, Tim smiled. It was one of Mother's smiles, not a reassuring smile.

"I hope that you did a thorough review of your actions over the last couple of months," Tim said. "If you didn't I do have a very nice presentation on how your violence has increased and your responses to those who actually need your protection have degraded. It's twenty-seven slides long but it only takes about half an hour."

"A presentation," Bruce said, blinking at Tim.

"Mmm-hmm," Tim murmured. "I rather like presenting information in that format. I should warn you that there are over sixty pages of references both public and private in the appendices."

"He does this all the time?" Bruce asked Mother.

She laughed and petted Tim's hair fondly. It was one of her real laughs, the one that spoke of love and approval rather than saying less flattering thing. Behind them Slade snorted in amusement. His dismay over Tim's love of reports and presentations had made Tim laugh a million times during their training.

"All the time," Ryan complained while rolling his eyes. "Really, emailing the information to you would be good enough."

To Tim's surprise Bruce started laughing, low and rich under his breath. He shook his head and looked over the three of them at Slade with a questioning expression that Tim couldn't quite interpret. Slade chuckled as well. When Tim looked at him, he was grinning with enough pride that Tim's cheeks went hot from the force of his blush.

"Yeah, they're always like this and yeah, that's why I chose to train them," Slade said. "Both of 'em are brilliant, driven and seriously talented. Both of them have their own motivations and goals for who they're going to be when they're older. Neither of them are going to take your shit, Bruce. They don't take mine and I'm Deathstroke."

"I should hope that they don't," Mother sniffed as if offended even though she looked pleased by the praise. "They're my sons."

That made Ryan groan and Tim sigh but Bruce laughed a little louder as he sipped his tea. A moment later he sighed as his expression slid into obvious exhaustion and depression. Tim cocked his head at Bruce before nodding slightly.

"I miss him too," Tim commented.

"It was my mistake," Bruce growled, staring into his tea as if he could see Jason's last moments in the steam.

"It was his choice to go and his choice to help," Ryan complained. "Don't you dare take Jason's agency away from him. He was good guy and he tried to help his mom. Slade told us everything he could find out about it. Yeah, you've got every right to be broken up by the grief but Jason made his own choices."

"I should have protected him," Bruce countered with such a stubborn set to his jaw that Tim snorted just like Mother.

"You can't protect everyone," Tim said. "No one can."

The simple statement made Bruce glare at him until he saw Tim's face. Given that Tim was thinking about Ryan and his step-father, the horrible things he'd had to live with before they'd finally convinced their mothers to let them get to know each other, he probably saw exactly what Tim was thinking. He didn't dare look at Ryan or Mother. Their expressions were probably much worse than Tim's was.

Bruce stared at Tim, meeting his eyes for a long moment before nodding as if he couldn't disagree with that. He finished his tea and set it on the table, smoothed his pants as if he was going to get up and leave. Tim raised one hand, finished his tea and set it on the table. Ryan had never picked his up while Mother was still quietly stirring hers.

"We do still need to discuss exactly how this is going to work," Tim said. "While most people outside assume that Ryan is the leader of our pair, in reality he tends to support me and my aims. I was the one who made the decision to stop you, Bruce. I was the one who discovered your identity years ago. We need to have a discussion about what both sides expect from this… interaction."

"Tim's my partner," Ryan declared so fiercely that Bruce winced. "Not you. Never you. I don't like your attitude as Batman and I don't share your aims. I'm here to protect Tim and save kids who are being abused. That's my thing. Your rogues gallery is a waste of time in my opinion."

"Granted," Tim said with a nod of agreement to Ryan, "they do need to be stopped but they are not our problem. They're yours. We fully expect that you will continue to fight them but that's not our concern. Our only concern in interacting with you is whether or not you're losing control of yourself."

For a moment Bruce looked as though he was going to protest that he was fully in control of himself all the time but he shut his mouth before saying anything that stupid. He did look as though Tim needed to show him the presentation. Hopefully that could wait until Bruce was a bit more stable. There were so many little things that he was doing that pushed him closer to the edge. Tim wasn't sure if Bruce even realized all the tiny ways he was allowing himself to slide towards villainy.

"Last night was… inappropriate," Bruce allowed. "But it is not the norm for my patrols."

"It has been lately," Tim countered. "I've tracked a forty-seven percent increase in the infliction of crippling injuries, an eighty-nine percent decrease in comforting gestures towards victims, and a corresponding seventy-one percent rise in worried 911 calls related to your patrols. This has happened in the last three months. Previous to that your violence levels were remarkably stable other than during riots or other exceptional events in Gotham. They always returned to their previous levels after the event was over, as well. This time the rate of violence has increased steadily rather than decreasing."

"He has data," Ryan confirmed when Bruce turned to stare at him. "Lots of data."

"I believe I need to see it," Bruce said, with enough worry that Tim thought that they might actually have gotten through to him.

Mother had to leave them alone with Bruce to deal with a call from Father's audit at work but Slade hovered in the background as Tim went over his data on Batman's activities. To Tim's delight Bruce found it all quite fascinating, though it was clear that he was very disturbed by how early on Tim had been tracking Batman and Robin's activities. Tim did end up sending the files to Bruce's computers in the Cave, along with several links to other people's studies on Batman's behavior as corroboration that Tim wasn't the only one who'd seen the pattern.

"Told you he had data," Ryan said when Bruce finally sat back in his borrowed desk chair to stare blankly at Tim's computer.

"I find hard data comforting," Tim said just snippily enough that Ryan snorted.

"Comforting is bashing someone for hurting a kid," Ryan said with his version of the snippy expression and voice. He grinned as he did it though so it wasn't as effective.

"If you say so," Tim chuckled.

Their teasing of each other made Bruce smile for a moment until the grief caught him again. His expression went bleak and then black with anger. Tim reached out and put his hand on Bruce's arm, not at all surprised that Bruce went still as stone at the touch. He wondered for a moment how long it had been since anyone had touched Bruce in anything but combat. From his reaction it had to be way too long.

"I miss him too," Tim said. "I wanted… I wanted to get to know him much better than I did. He was a very good person."

"He'll always be missed," Ryan agreed in a quiet, sad voice.

Surprisingly, that seemed to be the thing that broke Bruce's control at last. His shoulders shook with suppressed emotion that sent Slade out of the room. Tim slid his chair closer and hugged Bruce even though it was approximately like hugging one of the gargoyles that adorned the buildings in the financial district. A moment later, Ryan wrapped his arms around Bruce's neck in another hug.

Neither of them acknowledged Bruce's tears but the return hug Tim got was nice; a little too tight because Bruce didn't seem to know his own strength or maybe he just couldn't hold back right now. Eventually Bruce cleared his throat and released Tim. Ryan pretended not to notice Bruce wiping his cheeks. Tim offered him a tissue that was taken with a rueful smile of thanks.

"You're very bad with words," Tim commented. "Or with emotions. I'm not sure which. I used to be very bad at it too but Ryan helped with that. He's good at it."

"As much therapy as I've had, I should hope I'm good at it," Ryan quipped. "You better learn to use your words a bit more, though. I'm going to get very frustrated if you don't."

"He does tend to hit when he gets frustrated," Tim agreed with a solemn enough nod that it took Bruce a moment to start chuckling.

"How do you want to do this?" Bruce asked them. The tissue ended up crumpled into his fist.

Tim studied him for a moment. "We should spend some time working together to ensure that our combat styles aren't mutually incompatible. I doubt that they are. Slade was very good at teaching us to vary our styles as necessary. We both agree with your no killing rule, though we do have exceptions to that rule."

"Not that we've ever invoked those exceptions," Ryan commented at Bruce's ferociously disapproving frown.

"Our intent with this," Tim said, recapturing Bruce's attention and wondering just how deeply clinically depressed the man was currently that he was so silently accepting of the whole situation, "is to ensure that you have feedback on when your violence levels are rising unacceptably. If you do get out of control we will take you down again. Ryan's darts are very short term, making them acceptable in virtually all situations. I will be consulting with Alfred to ensure that you eat and sleep appropriately."

"He's the good cop," Ryan said and grinned when Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm the bad cop. I don't care how you feel, honestly. You set your standard of behavior. You chose your Mission and your code of ethics. I expect you to live up to them and I'll be yelling at you anytime you slip. Tim's the one who cares about you. I think you're a bit of a butt, frankly."

"I have actually been told that before," Bruce chuckled. He shook his head, smiling faintly before studying both of them. "You have no expectations of me."

Ryan shrugged and shook his head no. Tim shrugged as well. Years ago, before Slade began training them, Tim had thought about how incredible it must be to be Robin. He still thought that it must be an amazing thing to wear that red and green suit to fight by Batman's side but it no longer held (much) appeal. Being Aperture, working with Shadow, more than filled that age-old dream for Tim.

"I wouldn't object to learning more of your investigation techniques," Tim said. "The ones you use in the field as opposed to the laboratory and computer side of things."

"You do have some really great strikes that I'd like to learn," Ryan agreed. "And the whole batarang thing is cool. I'd like to know how you design and use them."

"Allies then," Bruce said. "Not partners."

The sheer suggestion of their being Batman's partners made Ryan bristle so much that Bruce winced. It was a tiny wince but still a wince. Tim shook his head solemnly before reaching out to pat Bruce's arm as if patting the head of a particularly stupid but adorable dog. That made Bruce glower until he saw the way Ryan calmed down.

"We're not your partners, Bruce," Tim explained. "We're going to be your consciences until you're over the worst of your grief and depression. I don't think it's going to be any fun at all for any of us but I've believed in Batman since I was a tiny child. Ryan respects who you've made yourself into, your drive and determination. Maybe sometime in the future you'll find another kid who can fly by your side as Robin but it won't be us. I'm the camera that records how you're doing and Ryan is the shadow following you to make sure you don't cross the line. Hopefully in the next few months to a year you'll be strong enough that you don't need us anymore."

"Don't even try to deny that you do need us," Ryan said before Bruce could protest. "You do. It's temporary. All of us have been through grief and loss, Bruce. It'll work out eventually. Until then, we'll make it work."

Bruce nodded, smiling ruefully. "Alfred said much the same, though in different words. He also forbid me to patrol tonight."

Tim smiled. "We'll be there for practice in two hours."

"Go eat something!" Ryan snapped fiercely enough that Tim started giggling. "Go! Go now!"

Bruce blinked at Ryan and then laughed as Ryan grabbed his arm, hauled him up out of the chair and shoved him towards the door. No matter how little Ryan claimed to think of Bruce as Batman, he couldn't help but take care of the people around him. Tim followed them downstairs, smiling at Slade. One way or the other, they'd make this work.

+++++

"Why here?" Ryan asked as Batman led them into the old, thoroughly abandoned JLA Headquarters.

The place was a wreck. There were boxes of stuff that no one wanted stacked along the walls and cobwebs in all the corners that looked big enough to support tarantulas the size of dinner plates. Tim, of course, was rubber-necking so that he could look at everything at once. Batman had his grim manners on since they were in public but he moved much more smoothly than he had since Jason's death and his shoulders didn't look like they were rock hard and aching.

"The JLA thinks that the two of you might be good influences on a couple of young heroes," Bruce explained.

"And you think we need to associate with kids our own age," Tim commented challengingly enough that Bruce glanced at him to make sure that it was Tim and not Ryan.

His need to double-check made both of them grin behind their masks. Bruce sighed, opened his mouth to say something sarcastic or cutting and then shut it without actually saying it. One point for Tim, Ryan thought with amusement. The control room of the old headquarters had a statue of the Red Tornado, or maybe it actually was the Red Tornado. Ryan wasn't sure. Overall, the place reminded him of Bruce's Cave, just done up a bit more nicely.

"You picked the location, didn't you, B?" Ryan asked and deliberately made his tone of voice droll, as if he found it utterly amusing that they were in yet another Cave. "No one thought that an actual building might be a better choice?"

"Shadow," Bruce complained.

"It does have that down-home feeling," Tim commented to Ryan. "Familiar. Homey."

"All it needs is the bats," Ryan agreed.

They both grinned as Bruce glared at them with full Bat-intensity before starting to chuckle. Nine months of being razzed and forced to actually think about why he did what he did had done Bruce some good. Ryan thought that he still had a long way to go but Bruce wasn't anywhere near as bad as he'd been when they'd staged their intervention. Something whooshed past them, a pair of red and gold blurs that made both Tim and Ryan start. The blurs abruptly stopped, letting them see the Flash and Impulse, the youngest Speedster.

"There are bats?" Impulse asked as if he was about to go racing around the room looking for them or maybe running away from them.

"No," Tim sighed sadly enough that Ryan had to fight a laugh. "We were just commenting that we missed them."

"Just not a proper cave without bats, you know?" Ryan agreed. He was surprised that he managed to get the words out in a wistful tone of voice instead of snickering in the middle.

Bruce's cowl crinkled in that way that meant his eyes were smiling but his lips didn't twitch at all. The Flash and Impulse exchanged looks and then clearly decided that they weren't touching that one no matter how much they wanted to. A moment later Superboy flew in with Superman watching him warily. The three older heroes exchanged looks that Ryan thought said something on the order of 'maybe they'll keep each other busy while we take care of important things'. He glowered at them but didn't say anything.

"They're your sidekicks?" Superman asked while staring at Tim and Ryan.

"No!" Ryan snapped at the exact same time as Tim.

"We're not his sidekicks," Tim huffed.

"We do work with him fairly frequently," Ryan admitted.

"But we do not work for him," Tim finished.

"We're heroes in our own right and follow our own code," Ryan declared.

"He didn't even train us," Tim said as the two of them crossed their arms over their chests in unison.

"They're allies," Bruce said so calmly that everyone turned from staring at Tim and Ryan to stare at him. "I don't have a sidekick."

Tim and Ryan glared at him, prompting Bruce to sigh and rub his forehead. Their long, detailed arguments about Spoiler obviously hadn't gotten through Bruce's skull yet. Hopefully sometime soon he'd get his head out of his ass and realize that he had a responsibility to the future generation of heroes to stop being a jerk and help them improve. If he didn't do it soon then Tim and Ryan would bring her in and help her train properly, no matter what Bruce said about it. Even Mother thought Spoiler had a lot of potential and she didn't approve of the whole vigilante thing even with all the good Tim and Ryan were doing.

"Never mind that," Bruce grumbled. "The reason you're here is that we thought it would be a good idea to allow the four of you to interact. Our old headquarters is secure and you'll be able to work on your team building skills."

"I don't need..." Superboy's voice trailed off. The older heroes turned and walked off, already talking about some mission that they needed to work on now that the younger heroes were occupied. "Hey! I don't need some sort of team! I'm too awesome to be held back by them!"

"Too late," Ryan sighed while watching the others disappear through the transport system. "They've already decided that we're a team, whether we want to be or not."

Impulse seemed to take his cue from Superboy who looked irritated about the whole thing. Tim just sighed and shrugged as he turned towards the stack of supplies that Bruce had arranged to be waiting for them. There were sleeping bags, little foam mats to put under the sleeping bags, and a couple of big lanterns for them to use because getting the power up and running throughout the headquarters apparently hadn't been something important enough to worry about.

"At least we have a roof over our heads," Tim mused.

"Uh, so who are you two?" Impulse asked. "I'mBart. WellactuallyImpulsebutyoucancallmeBart. You know, ifyouwantto."

"Shadow and Aperture," Ryan said. "Or Tim and Ryan."

"Which is which, dude?" Superboy asked, one finger pointing at Ryan and then at Tim and then back again.

"Does it matter?" Tim and Ryan asked in unison the way they always did when someone asked that question.

The blank stares from Bart and Superboy were so perfect that Ryan only lasted for about ten seconds before he started laughing. Tim lasted a few seconds longer but not much before he was snickering behind his mask too. Both Bart and Superboy glared at them but after a second Bart started laughing too. That made Superboy glare at them all as if he was being teased and really resented it.

"Sorry," Tim said since he was always the first one to recover from laughing fits.

"Hee, habit," Ryan agreed, still grinning behind his mask. "We've been getting that question forever, you know. It makes people twitch when we answer that way."

Superboy had a 'really?' expression on his face but his lips were twitching a little bit so it wasn't as bad as it could be. Bart finally stopped laughing a few seconds later, grinning at them while vibrating in place. Ryan wasn't sure how he could move so much without needing to eat a huge amount of food but that wasn't really his problem. Figuring out how they were supposed to team up and what for was the problem.

"So did they explain what we were supposed to do together to you guys?" Ryan asked.

"Batman was less that helpful when he told us about this idea," Tim agreed.

"Don't ask me," Superboy complained. "Superman just said that I needed to learn restraint and that you guys would rein me in."

"Me to!" Bart said, looking somewhere between delighted and confused by the whole thing.

Ryan opened his mouth to say something thoroughly rude about that but Tim sighed and glared at the transporter that had taken Bruce and the others away. When he turned back Ryan could tell that he was as annoyed as Tim was. They weren't fix-it boys, there to make every hero better by interacting with them. Still, it would be nice to have someone their own age to interact with. Spoiler was nice but she wasn't fully trained or even an official hero like they all were.

"That's sucks," Ryan grumbled.

"Neither of us are going to fix either of you," Tim declared. "You're fine just the way you are."

"Thankyou," Bart said, vibrating a little faster. "Areyouguyshungry? I'mhungry. Howaboutpizza? Icangogetitifyouguyswant."

That was a good enough idea that they all contributed to the fund. Superboy, Kon apparently, liked pizza with another pizza on it. Tim stuck to pepperoni. Ryan went for Hawaiian. When Bart came back a few minutes later with pizza he'd chosen pepperoni, sausage, vegetarian, something with every meat in existence and a cheese pizza, all of which he ate by himself. Tim kept his goggles on for a while but pretty soon pushed them up onto his head. Ryan took them off outright though he did keep his mask pulled down around his neck instead of taking it all the way off.

Eating pizza led to talking about favorite foods. Then to big fights they'd been in and places they'd seen; Kon and Bart had been many more places than Tim and Ryan but they apparently knew far fewer heroes and villains. Tim's casual mention of training with Deathstroke made both Kon and Bart freeze as they stared at the two of them.

"He's kind of like our uncle," Ryan explained with a shrug. "Really, he's not that bad. Lethal, granted, but not that bad."

"Uh, okay," Kon said. He reached for the last slice of pizza only to realize that Bart had eaten it. "I was saving that!"

"I can get more if you want," Bart offered as if he really hoped that Kon would say yes.

"Sure," Tim said, tossing Bart another twenty. "Make it extra-large this time."

Bart grinned and disappeared in a red and gold blur. He came back with three pizzas instead of one, two of which he ate and the last which was shared between Ryan, Tim and Kon. Tim nibbled on one piece. Ryan managed to eat half of his. Kon ate all but two pieces of the rest of the pizza, proving to Ryan's satisfaction that his metabolism was raised though not nearly as much as Bart's. He ate both of his pizzas and then eyed their leftovers as if he was still a little puckish.

"Feeding you must cost a fortune," Ryan commented.

"Um, sorry," Bart said, wincing as though he was a puppy who'd just been whacked with a newspaper. "I have a high metabolism."

"It shows," Ryan said. "Not a big deal, really, just a comment."

It took a moment for Bart to relax again so obviously his appetite actually was a big deal for whoever was taking care of him when he wasn't being Impulse. Ryan made a mental note to ask Mother about setting up a food budget for the group. He'd be willing to bet that Bruce had set one but had underestimated it. After all, Bruce was nearly as bad as Tim about not eating regularly or enough. Alfred had to remind him to eat practically daily.

Tim and Kon got up to explore the headquarters so Ryan looked at Bart to see if he wanted to come along. One instant Bart was sitting on the floor like Ryan was and the next he was on his feet and grinning. Ryan laughed and followed the others. It was pretty interesting, what little was functional. The facility went way into the mountain with caves that extended even further back from there. Eventually they got tired of exploring and returned to the control room with its boxes of stuff, statue of the Red Tornado and leftover pizza. To Ryan's surprise (and apparently Bart's given how he started when Tim frowned at the clock) it was already close to midnight.

"Definitely time for bed," Ryan said.

"They did provide sleeping bags," Tim agreed. 

He didn't look tired but Ryan could tell that he actually was. Normally he would have protested going to sleep at least once. Ryan was sort of surprised that he wasn't more tired out by their day. Usually dealing with homework, followed by patrol and then coming here would have wiped him out. But interacting with Bart and Kon had been fun, Bart more than Kon because Bart made him laugh all the time but Kon was fun too. Better still, Ryan sort of thought that Tim liked Kon so this team idea might be a good thing after all.

Bart and Kon took their bags and started setting them up close to the Red Tornado statue. Ryan picked a good spot and rolled out the pad, smiling that Bruce had made sure that it was wide enough for both of them. Tim smiled as well as he unzipped their sleeping bags and zipped them together into one extra wide one that they could share. They both stopped as the realized that all noise had ceased. When Ryan looked, Kon and Bart were both staring at them, Bart with a curious expression and Kon with a sort of disturbed one.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Uh, you two sleep… together?" Kon asked, waving one hand as if he wasn't sure how to phrase that.

"Yeah," Ryan answered.

"We've slept together since we were kids," Tim agreed.

"I mean, all the time?" Kon asked, waving both hands this time.

Ryan looked at Tim whose eyes were wrinkling at the edges as if he was fighting against a grin. That made Ryan want to grin too but he kept it under control as they turned back to Kon with the blankest expressions possible. Bart looked back and forth between Kon and Tim and Ryan, legs crossed and hands resting on his ankles. It was the stillest that Ryan had seen him since they'd met.

"Yes?" Tim asked, doing his best 'I do not understand the question' voice.

"With no, you know, private time?" Kon all but begged, his voice at least an octave higher this time.

"Yeah?" Ryan confirmed, cocking his head to the side. "Why?"

Kon's spluttering was obviously supposed to mean something but Ryan had no clue what in the world it might mean. Tim and Ryan exchanged looks, deliberately shrugged in unison and then went back to laying out their shared bed. By the time they all climbed in, still in their uniforms, Kon's cheeks were nearly as red as his uniform. It was no surprise to Ryan that Tim deliberately did the sexy cuddling thing where they snuggled up and wrapped their arms around each other as if it was such a relief to finally get to touch each other properly.

Kon whined.

"Are you two lovers?" Bart asked.

He said it so innocently and openly that Ryan's stomach started quivering with suppressed laughter. Tim started giggling too, his face buried in Ryan's shoulder. After a second they both gave in and laughed openly, even though Kon squawked something really offended sounding. This time Ryan was the one to recover from the laughter first.

"No, not lovers," Ryan giggled to Bart who grinned. "But it's way too much fun teasing people about it. We just get nightmares, that's all."

"We sleep better if we have someone to cuddle," Tim confirmed while wiping his eyes. "Oh, you should have seen your face. I wish I'd been wearing my goggles!"

Tim started giggling again, still cuddled by Ryan's side. It took at least half an hour for Kon to stop grumbling but Ryan was pretty sure that after ten minutes the grumbles were purely for show. Every time Kon made a grumbling sound Tim started giggling again. It was adorable and when Ryan looked at him Kon seemed to think it was cute too. Eventually they all quieted down enough that the weight and history of the place started getting to Ryan.

"Do you think they'll actually let us do things as a team?" Ryan whispered.

"Maybe," Kon said in an equally low whisper. "Superman's always on me to learn to act like other people."

"We are not the right people to teach you that," Tim snorted.

"Why not?" Bart asked. "I get the same thing a lot."

"Neither of us have had normal lives," Tim explained. "Our parents weren't normal. Our childhoods were very abnormal in many ways. Once we started living together things weren't normal. Even now our lives aren't normal."

"Don't see why it's such a good thing to be 'normal'," Ryan grumbled. "Sure, learn to fit in well enough that people don't recognize your secret identity immediately but there's no reason to try and change yourself to fit other people's standards. We are who we are and that's how it is. Being us is good. We're heroes. We go out and help people, do good things. Sure, we can learn more and we should keep practicing and trying new things but there's nothing wrong with who we are now!"

"Indoor voice," Tim murmured with enough amusement that Ryan went red with embarrassment. "That's a rant. He does that a lot, especially on that subject. You'll get used to it eventually."

Kon started snickering. After a moment Bart laughed too. When Tim started laughing quietly against Ryan's shoulder Ryan gave in and laughed too. He certainly wasn't that upset about it given how often Tim had to poke him to stop ranting about the things he cared about. As the laughter died down Ryan focused on his breathing, slowing it so that he could fall asleep. Tomorrow was a Saturday and who knew what sorts of things they'd get to do with Kon and Bart. Maybe they'd even get to have an adventure together.

+++++

"He's cute."

Tim glared over his shoulder at Ryan who grinned back at him unrepentantly. Young Justice had grown substantially in the last few months, with Secret, Arrowette, Wonder Girl joining them. Granted, things were a little crazy every time they got together but it was turning out to be a reasonably decent team. Ryan tended to take care of everyone when they were together much to the other's amusement. Bart understood why since he'd asked Tim and actually stood still through the entire explanation. The others didn't know why Ryan had such a thing for making sure they were okay. None of them had asked Tim and it didn't seem like Bart had told them.

Which didn't change the fact that Ryan kept pushing Tim at Kon. Not that he minded. Kon was funny, if frequently obnoxiously hot-headed and impulsive. Fortunately for them all the girls balanced Kon and Bart's tendency to charge in pretty well. Tim tried to keep Kon from doing too much, taking too many risks.

"Bart?" Tim counted when Ryan just kept grinning. "Yes, he is cute. It's sweet how you dote over him."

Ryan's cheeks went blazingly red before going surprisingly pale. Tim blinked and abandoned the computer to put one hand on Ryan's shoulder. The others were in bed. They'd taken monitor duty together because neither of them were going to sleep well alone. The touch didn't make Ryan look at him. In fact, it made him turn away as if he was ashamed to even meet Tim's eyes.

"Hey, I was teasing," Tim said very, very quietly and gently.

"I know but..." Ryan whispered.

"You really do like him," Tim murmured as he pulled Ryan back over to the monitors and made him sit down. "Like-like, the way I liked Jason?"

"Um, maybe the way Mom liked Edward," Ryan admitted while clenching his hands together and squeezing them between his knees. "I don't know what to do, Tim. He's, I mean, I do like him. Bart makes me laugh like no one else does. It's wonderful. But, but... every so often I just want to hold him down and make him be still, make him be quiet. He's... there are these moments when he focuses and I can see this incredibly bright, insightful person inside of him. I shouldn't want to change him!"

Tim caught Ryan's arms, shaking him gently at first and then harder as Ryan trembled and stared at him. He could understand why Ryan was getting so upset over the urges given the mess that his parents' lives had been but Tim didn't see Ryan going that direction or Bart allowing it to go that far. Unfortunately, Ryan didn't seem to be able to see past his fear of becoming his mother or, worse, Edward.

"Ryan," Tim said in the sternest 'I'm about to beat you stupid, kid' voice that he had learned from Slade, "are you listening to me?"

"Um, yes?" Ryan said, still shaking but not as hard as he had been. Slade-voices always helped calm him down.

"You're not your mom," Tim stated and stared into Ryan's eyes to make sure that he was actually listening. Normally he would have laughed.

"But Bart..." Ryan whispered, biting his lip. The shivers got worse.

"Ryan!" Tim snapped and then smiled as Ryan jerked and deliberately took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "That's better."

Tim let go and allowed Ryan to do the breathing exercises they'd learned from Slade and Bruce. He got up and began working through their toughest series of kata. After two times through it his movements had calmed and slowed enough that Tim checked the monitors and then joined him in doing the kata. Working together always kept them calm, both of them. By the time they'd done three sets of the kata together Tim felt like he could talk about anything and Ryan was sweating but visibly calmer.

"Am I overreacting?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah," Tim said. They both sat, checking once more that there wasn't anything that needed Young Justice's attention. "I think you are. Bart isn't Edward, Ryan. He's every bit as bright as you think he is, though I'm not sure he'll ever be able to focus the way you seem to think he will. He wouldn't just let you take over his life."

"I suppose you're right," Ryan sighed. He glared at the monitors. "I wish something would happen. I want to hit someone."

"No, you don't," Tim snorted. He grinned as the glare transferred to him. "You want to avoid talking about this. Have you asked Bart what he thinks of BDSM? He is from the future. I'm sure they have very different views of sex then."

The suggestion made Ryan whine and hide his head under his arms, forehead pressed to the keyboard. Tim turned Ryan's keyboard off so that he wouldn't accidentally send out an alert and wake everyone up. The mumbled curses made him laugh under his breath. That would be a no, Ryan hadn't asked Bart what he thought of BDSM or possibly even sex in general. He was pretty sure that Ryan hadn't even tried to kiss Bart.

"Why do you ask things like that?" Ryan complained after a minute.

"That's the only way you're going to figure out what to do next," Tim said with a calm shrug. "Ask him."

"Have you talked to Kon about your little crush?" Ryan asked just belligerently enough for it to be an attempt to distract Tim from Bart and Ryan's proto-relationship.

"Sort of," Tim admitted. He grinned and laughed at Ryan's shock. "He asked if I'd ever been with anyone as he bragged about some of the girls he'd dated back in Hawaii. I told him that I'd sort of started dating Robin before he died. We um, didn't really continue the conversation after that because there was an attack and well, he's been really careful not to mention it since then."

Ryan blinked at Tim and then stared at the doorway as if thinking about going to wake Kon up so that Tim could have the conversation. Tim flapped a hand at him to calm down and stay put. Waking anyone up right now would be counterproductive. While Tim really should continue that conversation with Kon, he wasn't at all certain that Kon was interested in him.

"He's been staring at you every time your back is turned," Ryan said. "I thought you'd kissed him or something."

"Really?" Tim asked, surprised. "Huh. Every time I turn around he's looking the other direction or talking to one of the others."

"We've all seen it," Ryan snorted, amused again at last. "What do you think Suzie and Cissie keep giggling about?"

"Is that why Cassie's been so curt with me lately?" Tim asked, waving one hand as he started putting the pieces together. "She's upset because I'm blocking her crush. Hmmm. I'll have to tell her about Jason when I see her next. I really don't want to start another relationship while I'm on the rebound."

No surprise, Ryan hugged Tim for that comment. Tim leaned into the hug, smiling against Ryan's shoulder. They separated again after a moment, Ryan turning his chair around so that he could straddle it and lean on the back while staring at the very, very boring monitors. His expression was distant enough that Tim knew he had to be thinking about Bart again. Hopefully this time he was actually thinking instead of reacting to his fears and past trauma. Neither of them said anything else. There wasn't much to say that hadn't already been said.

Several hours later, Cassie came in. She glared at Tim and smiled tiredly at Ryan to take her watch. Tim rolled his eyes and turned the monitors over to her. Ryan stayed behind to whisper something into Cassie's eyes. She gasped and stared at Tim, eyes so wide that she looked several younger than she actually was.

"Stop that," Tim told Ryan.

"Your boyfriend... died?" Cassie asked.

"You are such a meddler," Tim huffed at Ryan who shrugged and walked out. "Yes, he was the second Robin. The Joker killed him. I'm... well, Kon is very nice, Cassie and I do like him but I'm not ready to, well, to get involved with anyone yet. I did tell Kon about it but I don't know what's going on in his head. Ryan says he's been staring at me behind my back but I hadn't seen that."

"Wow," Cassie said, staring at Tim and then at her hands. Her expression was guilty enough that Tim wanted to sigh and reassure her but it would probably backfire on him. So far they hadn't actually been very good friends. "Um. Sorry for being a bitch?"

Tim laughed. "No problem. I'm going to get some sleep. Yell if there are any problems."

"Will do," Cassie said, this time a little more like her normal self. "Night."

"Night."

The next morning when Tim and Ryan got up, everyone in the group looked at Tim with the same sort of guilty, sort of worried expressions. Tim rolled his eyes and elbowed Ryan who shrugged an apology before going to get breakfast. He did get two plates of food so Tim settled at the table to meet the other's eyes. They looked back as if expecting Tim to break into tears at any moment. This was why he hadn't discussed Jason openly. He'd known that they would treat him differently.

"I'm fine," Tim huffed at them. "For heaven's sake, he died nine months before Kon, Bart, Ryan and I formed Young Justice. It's been nearly a full year. It's sad and I'll always miss him but it's not the end of the world."

"But he was your first love!" Suzie exclaimed, hands clasped in front of her chest. "And you never got to be together, share that first kiss or anything."

"Oh no, there were kisses," Ryan said from the stove. "Lots of kisses. And rooftop tag, which in Gotham is practically foreplay."

"Ryan," Tim growled at him. "You're not helping!"

He blushed at the giggles from Cissie and Suzie. Kon's brilliant blush was nearly as bad. At least Bart calmed down and stopped giving Tim his spectacular puppy eyes. Tim sighed as Ryan gave him the plate of food. It was good, no surprise given how much Ryan enjoyed cooking, but Tim could barely eat it for all the eyes staring at him.

"So you and Robin were lovers?" Bart asked.

"No, we were just starting to date," Tim explained. "Officially we didn't know each other's secret identities except that I'd known since he before he became Robin and he found out who I was right after we started patrolling. It was… complicated. Batman does tend to take secret identities a bit too seriously."

"They were cute," Ryan said, grinning.

"You weren't part of it?" Bart asked with enough curiosity and enthusiasm that Ryan went beet red.

"No," Tim laughed, shoulder-bumping Ryan when he couldn't manage to get anything out. "He's never had a relationship yet. We're all young. It's not a big deal."

Kon blew a raspberry as if that was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. He started talking about the girls he'd known back in Hawaii, more than happy to have the girls ask him questions and coo over it. This time Tim watched more closely. Every time it looked like Tim couldn't see him, Kon did stare at Tim. He didn't stop bragging about his dating prowess but the expressions that Tim saw from the corner of his eye made him agree with Ryan. Kon really did seem to like him, even if he looked as though he was holding off on doing anything about it.

Once breakfast was done they headed to the gym to get some training in. Cassie and Kon played moving targets for Cissie as they tossed a ball back and forth as fast as they could. Tim worked on the weights with Suzie by his side. It didn't surprise Tim at all that Ryan and Bart worked together. They'd done that every chance they got ever since the very first night that they camped out in the headquarters.

"They're really sweet together," Suzie commented to Tim as he added weight to the machine he was using.

"Ryan and Bart?" Tim asked. He smiled at Suzie's nod. "They are. Hopefully Ryan will actually talk to Bart about it sometime soon."

"Are you going to talk to Kon privately?" Suzie asked. She moved to spot Tim.

He smiled his thanks before beginning to carefully work with the barbell. There was enough weight that he had to concentrate but not so much that he'd hurt himself. "Eventually. I really am determined not to take things too fast. I like Kon a lot but so does Cassie. There's no reason to rush things and every reason to take it slow so that we all figure out what we really want. Besides, he does have a say in who he ends up with, you know."

On the other side of the gym Kon yelped as one of Cissie's arrows got through, hitting him hard enough to knock him out of the sky. They were the rubber-tipped arrows but Tim knew from experience how much they hurt when they hit. Cissie laughed while Cassie landed next to Kon to make sure that he was okay. After checking that Kon was okay, just embarrassed, Tim chuckled and returned to his weight lifting.

"I think that was you," Suzie giggled to Tim.

"What?" Tim squawked and then grunted because he nearly lost control of the barbell. 

It slipped out of his grip for a second, one side sliding towards his chest. Suzie helped him get it back under control and them smiled as Tim put it back on the rests instead of continuing to lift weights. She floated as if sitting on something near Tim's shoulder. Tim didn't dare look at Kon, Cassie or Cissie. His cheeks were so red that he knew he'd get teased for ages.

"He was watching you when you said that. I think he overheard you." Cissie apparently had no problem looking because she gazed over Tim's head and grinned. "Yeah, he heard you."

"I suppose we will need to have that talk," Tim muttered.

He automatically looked at Ryan. To his surprise Ryan and Bart were off in a corner talking very seriously about something. Or more accurately, Ryan was whispering something to Bart who had his most serious expression on as he nodded occasionally. Tim watched for a second and then smiled to himself. No matter how uncomfortable the little romantic triangle was between him, Cassie and Kon, some good had to have come from it. Ryan was actually taking to Bart about his past (Tim recognized that expression) and maybe sometime soon Ryan would have a relationship that gave him as much joy as Jason had given Tim.

One way or the other Tim wasn't going to think about the potential for a relationship with Kon, not yet. He wasn't ready to let Jason go so soon.

+++++

Ryan looked up from his mom's grave as a double whoosh went round him. Bart appeared at his right shoulder while Kon ended up hovering over his head. The last month had been really interesting, not so much because of the things they'd done as Young Justice or the patrols they'd had in Gotham, but because of how his relationship with Bart had evolved. Tim's friendship with Kon had taken a strong romantic turn despite Tim's refusal to even think about calling what he and Kon were doing dating.

"What's up?" Ryan asked.

"We came to visit," Bart said as he hugged Ryan as if he was trying to wrap himself around Ryan.

"The girls are having a Girl's Night Out," Kon explained, "and they kicked us out. Figured we'd stop by and see how you guys were doing since you didn't show up today."

"It's a bad day," Ryan sighed.

He craned his neck, just barely able to see Tim kneeling in front of Jason's grave. They'd both agreed that dealing with people this particular weekend probably wouldn't be good. Today was the first anniversary of Jason's death. Sunday was the anniversary of Ryan's parents' deaths. Neither of them really wanted to be around anyone but now that Kon and Bart were there Ryan was glad of it. Bart hugs always made him feel better.

"Why?" Bart asked. 

When Ryan pointed at his parents' headstone Bart stilled and stared. Kon flew around to hover behind Ryan so that he could read it, too. He winced and rubbed the back of his neck. It looked to Ryan like he was wishing that he was anywhere else but here. Ryan flapped a hand at him, shooing him towards Tim.

"Tim could do with hugs," Ryan said. "He won't admit it but I know he could. Today's the day Robin died, you see."

"That's _Robin's_ grave?" Kon whispered in a harsh tone that probably carried perfectly to Tim's ears in the quiet graveyard.

"Yeah," Ryan sighed, rubbing Bart's back more for his own comfort than for Bart's. "Fake name, but that's it."

They all looked up as the dark clouds overhead began to drop rain on them. Ryan had expected it so he popped his umbrella while nodding towards Tim. To his relief, Kon did fly over to land next to Tim. He couldn't hear what Kon said but the sad expression on Tim's face shifted to something more normal, less depressed.

"Why is your mom buried with your dad?" Bart asked so quietly that Ryan could barely hear it.

"That's my birth dad," Ryan explained. "Edward's grave is off that way, towards the trees at the bottom of the hill. Mom always wanted to be buried next to my real dad. Aunt Janet made sure that it happened and then had Edward buried somewhere else. I… really wouldn't have been comfortable with him being right next to Mom and Dad."

Bart nodded slowly as if working that out. After a second he licked his lips, squirming a little against Ryan's side. "So um, did they do the BDSM thing? Like your mom and Edward did?"

Ryan went beet red and groaned. Thinking about his parents having sex wasn't something he really wanted to do, no matter how valid the question was. It was like thinking of Mother and Jack having sex or something and that was so horrible an idea that it practically broke his brain. Regardless, Ryan had promised to answer any questions Bart had as part of their relationship so he tried to figure out how to answer it without sounding like he was eight instead of nearly fifteen.

"Ryan!" 

Tim's shout made both Ryan and Bart's heads whip around. Kon was doing something to Jason's grave and Tim's face was so white that he looked like he'd seen a ghost. They ran over, Bart full speed and Ryan at his human speed. Tim was scrambling at the dirt as Kon used his powers to scoop out huge chunks of earth.

"Tim!" Ryan squawked as he tried to pull Tim away.

"Kon heard someone screaming!" Tim gasped. 

As he tried to rip away from Ryan's grip Ryan heard a scream coming from below, too. He stared and then dove at the growing hole to help as well. Bart blurred into action, bringing shovels from somewhere. They all shoveled, Kon using his powers to lift huge chunks of dirt and the rest of them to find the edges of Jason's coffin. The viewing portion of the lid shifted and thrust against the earth as whoever was inside (Jason, how could Jason be alive?) shoved at it.

"Move!" Kon snapped at them.

He grabbed the coffin and hauled it out of the earth, setting it to the side and then getting out of the way as Tim flung the lid open. Time seemed to stop as Tim and Jason stared at each other. Jason was alive, bruised, bleeding from his fingernails and obviously terrified, but he was alive. Tim's hands fluttered and there were strange noises coming from his mouth that Ryan thought were supposed to be words but they didn't make any sense at all. Ryan took a deep breath, brushed his hands off on his pants and pulled out his cell phone. Someone had to keep their head and it looked like it was Ryan's turn.

"Mother," Ryan said after speed-dialing Janet. "We need you right away. Something's happened and Jason's alive."

Mother didn't quite gasp but it was a very close thing. "I'll be there immediately. Keep them calm if possible."

"Will do," Ryan said. He turned to Kon who looked like he wanted to fly away. "Kon, can you carry Jason? We need to get to the street where Mother will meet us."

"Um, yeah," Kon said. "Should we go after that?"

"Heck no," Ryan said. "I think we're all going to need as much support as possible, especially Tim."

"We should fill the grave back in so people don't think we were grave robbing," Bart commented.

"Good point," Ryan said.

He went over and carefully put a hand on Tim's shoulder. When Tim started so hard that he practically fell over, Jason stared at them both even though his eyes were starting to swell shut. Ryan hugged Tim and then gently took Jason's hand. Jason started laughing, a shaky, barely in control laugh that made the hair on the back of Ryan's head stand up.

"We gotta get you back to Bruce," Ryan said. "Let's get you out of here, okay?"

"Fuck yeah," Jason said.

Tim did most of the work of getting Jason out of his coffin, leaving Ryan, Kon and Bart to return the coffin to the grave and then fill the hole back in. It was obvious that something had happened to the grave but it wasn't that bad once they were done, not with Kon and Bart's help. Jason grumbled at letting Kon carry him but Mother was there with her car by that point so he didn't grumble all that hard.

Ryan sat in the back with Jason and Tim, doing his best to keep Jason stable and Tim from hugging him to hard. Just from the way Jason was breathing Ryan could tell that he had seriously broken ribs. The report he'd seen in Bruce's computers made his stomach turn. Jason might be alive but he'd need medical treatment it he was going to survive coming back to life. Kon and Bart flew and ran outside the car, following them as Mother drove like a maniac to get them to the Cave. Even though she'd never been through the hologram she drove straight through and hit the brakes exactly at the right moment for them to slide to a stop next to the Batmobile.

"Alfred!" Ryan bellowed because please, he had to be down there. "Alfred, we need help!"

Alfred was there, thank goodness. So was Bruce, glaring at Kon and Bart, and Nightwing who gasped and almost fell over when Tim carefully helped Jason out of the car. The next couple of minutes were a blur of people talking over each other, Jason swearing at them all in a bubbly, weak tone and Ryan realizing that he was just barely hanging onto awareness. He gave up when they put Jason on a gurney and began wiring him with every sort of monitor possible. Tim and Mother and Kon could deal with this. Ryan couldn't, not right now. He turned away and went to sit in the locker room, head in his hands. A moment later Bart sat by his side to wrap an arm around Ryan's back.

"He'll live," Bart murmured. "That's what they said, anyway."

"Just… too much," Ryan whispered, well aware of how hard he was shaking if only because he was vibrating while Bart was still. "Sorry. Just too much at the moment."

He let Bart pull him into a hug, burying his face in Bart's neck. The suit smelled of wind and sweat, along with that salty-sweet scent that was Bart himself. Bart didn't say a single thing, didn't do anything other than hold Ryan until the shaking died down and the horrifying thoughts (Edward, what if Edward came back?) subsided, leaving Ryan with that exhausted, shaky feeling that came from just missing having a panic attack.

"Hey, you guys okay?" Steph asked from the doorway.

"He needed a break," Bart said. "You're the new Robin?"

"Yeah, not that the not-dead guy thinks I should be," Steph said, snorting in annoyance. "He keeps calling me his replacement. Not sure if he's serious or not."

"Knowing Jason," Ryan said as he let Bart go and stood up again, "he's trying to provoke a reaction so he can forget about how much pain he's in. Or he's trying to distract Tim from his injuries. Either or."

"Ah," Steph said, her eyes narrowing behind her green mask. "Got it. Come on. I think B's about to have a coronary about your mom being here. She looks like she's about to gut him with his own batarang."

Ryan snorted, pretty sure that Mother had even odds of succeeding if she really wanted it. Bruce was good but he wasn't as vicious as Janet Drake could be. As he headed for the other room Bart grabbed his hand and squeezed it, grinning when Ryan smiled at him. As terrifying as the resurrection was for Ryan, it was a good thing for everyone else.

Once they got out into the medical bay Ryan had to put a hand over his mouth because Bruce and Mother were doing that stiff, 'I can't believe you're that stupid' high society party talk at each other even though she had mud on her skirt and Bruce was in the Batsuit. Kon hovered over Tim's left shoulder with a bowl of popcorn that Alfred had to have produced from somewhere. When Steph saw that she glared up at him with her hands on her hips. Kon grinned at her and put a big handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"Gimme!" Steph snapped at Kon. "Alfred didn't make that for you, you know."

She jumped at him when Kon flew higher, still grinning and eating the popcorn. Ryan shook his head, not sure that the world could handle Kon and Steph interacting for any length of time. He did his best to completely ignore Mother's thoroughly icy and snide comment about Bruce's lack of foresight and preparation for every eventuality. Bruce's growl was deep enough and loud enough that Bart shivered and hugged Ryan as if he could hide in Ryan's arms.

"Just like old times," Jason said to Tim who nodded and smiled weakly.

"Nah, crazier than old times, Zombie Robin," Ryan said because he had to make a quip or he'd end up running out of the cave and never being able to look Jason in the face again.

"Ryan," Tim scolded.

Jason snorted, the confusion and faint anger turning into amusement. "Good one. What's with Blondie there?"

"Cluemaster's her father," Tim explained over Steph yelling at Kon and Mother and Bruce's increasingly arctic argument about whether or not she should have brought Jason back or called Bruce to let him get Jason to the Cave.

"She was Spoiler," Ryan agreed, snorting with amusement when Nightwing scooped the popcorn out of Kon's hands as he flew past the head of the dinosaur. "Not sure if you saw her before, you know, the dead thing happened but we refused to be Robin and she really needed training. She's been at it for about a month now."

"Huh," Jason grunted.

He started grinning as Dick ran by with the bowl of popcorn, Steph and Kon in hot pursuit. Their chase was enough to make Mother and Bruce stop arguing. Mother rubbed her forehead as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. Bruce just sighed as his shoulders sagged a little. Kon tackled Dick just as Steph snagged the bowl of popcorn from him. They all went down in a tangle of limbs covered by a shower of popcorn that had Alfred going for a broom. Ryan chuckled, hugging Bart to keep the nightmare thoughts away. Tonight was going to be a bad one. There was no way Tim would leave Jason's side.

"She's still not sure about being Robin," Tim said so quietly that Ryan could barely hear him over the cursing and complaints coming from Kon, Nightwing and Steph. "I'm sure she'd give it back to you if you want when you're better."

"I'll think about it," Jason sighed. "You sticking here?"

Tim nodded, hand tightening around Jason's hand. "Please."

"I don't think any of us will go out," Ryan said. "I'm sure not going to."

Jason nodded, winced and then sighed again. "Cool. Get the fuck out. I'm tired. Tim can stay. The rest of you should beat it."

Kon drifted over, looking at Tim who bit his lip and made those really spectacular puppy eyes that always made Jack start buying them things to make whatever was wrong better. That was all it took for Kon to float over to hover over Ryan and Bart's heads. Despite his tiredness, Ryan could see how Jason's eyes narrowed at the interaction. Tim was going to have to explain what had happened during Jason's 'absence' but Ryan didn't think he could handle being there for it.

"Mom, we're going upstairs," Ryan announced. "Jason wants to rest so I thought maybe we'd get more popcorn and watch movies or something. I don't think we should be going out tonight. Any of us."

Bruce stiffened at the pointed look but Alfred's discrete cough made him sigh and push the cowl back. Mother nodded, heading back to her car.

"Do not stay up all night, Ryan, Tim," Mother said. "I will expect to see you tomorrow morning to discuss how we will handle this. Hopefully no one saw you robbing Jason's grave."

"Zombie Robin right here," Jason drawled and then coughed. It made him wince and Tim jump up to try and make Jason more comfortable. "Damn it."

"Stop talking," Tim snapped at him.

Mother jerked her chin towards the stairs up to the Manor before getting into her car and leaving. Alfred came over and started removing Bruce's cape, taking the decision away from him. Ryan tugged at Bart and then smiled because Steph was already out of her costume and in comfy sweats. Nightwing, Dick (God, what a horrible name!) was behind her, pulling on a tight T-shirt. Once they all settled into the media room with (Kon and Ryan had been outvoted by Dick, Steph and Bart) Beauty and the Beast playing on the TV Ryan pulled Bart into his arms so that they could cuddle on the couch.

"Are you going to be okay?" Bart whispered to him.

"If you stay here I'll be fine," Ryan whispered back, arms tightening around Bart automatically. "I just need someone to hold and I'll be okay."

"Then I'll stay right here with you," Bart said, hugging Ryan so hard that his ribs hurt. "For as long as you need me to."

+++++

"Harder."

Bruce's voice was dark and determined, floating from the sparring mat back to where Tim was spotting Jason on the parallel bars. Steph's grunt as she hit him harder made Jason grin despite the sweat running down his face. The past couple of weeks had softened Jason's attitude towards Steph considerably. Her sheer determination to be the best Robin she could be helped a lot. Tim sort of thought that Steph's inherent Steph-ness, the optimism and force of will that made her who she was, had a lot to do with it too.

"Harder."

Jason snorted, his grin making Tim grin in spite of himself. "Still does that, does he?"

"Not to Ryan and me," Tim murmured. "But then we don't actually train with him. We still train with Slade from time to time."

He glanced over Jason's shoulder and grinned at Steph's all-out assault on Bruce. She was doing pretty well given that she was half Bruce's size and had much less reach than he did. One hit made it through, making Bruce grunt and Jason raise an eyebrow as he reached the end of the parallel bars and sagged exhaustedly. Steph didn't slow down, didn't cheer the way she sometimes did. She just kept hitting until Bruce called a stop to the sparring session. Tim helped Jason into his wheelchair, grateful that it was temporary. Everyone agreed that in a few months Jason would be back in action, if he so desired. So far, Jason did seem to want to get back out on the streets.

Bruce's murmured critique of Steph's performance wasn't audible over Steph and Jason's panting. They wandered off towards the computers, leaving Tim and Jason alone in their corner of the Cave. Jason caught Tim's hand, squeezing his fingers with such a tentative expression that Tim simultaneously wanted to hug him and run away. Instead he took a deep breath and squeezed back.

"You don't have to help, you know," Jason said, quiet enough that their voices wouldn't carry too far.

"I want to!" Tim protested. "I'm just… It was a year. Everything changed and I thought I was moving on and now you're back and… Ryan can't even look at you without freaking out."

"Yeah, and I was wondering why that was," Jason said but his expression and tone turned it into a question.

"He's worried about Edward, his step-father, being resurrected someday," Tim sighed. "It's not logical at all but since we don't know how you were resurrected it's eating away at him."

"His boyfriend's cute enough, I suppose," Jason said, nodding as if Ryan's response made a certain amount of sense. Tim thought that he might be wondering who among the people in his life might return someday as well. "Bit hyper."

That made Tim grin and shrug. It was the perfect opportunity to talk about Young Justice, to tell Jason about Kon and Bart and the girls, but Tim couldn't bring himself to open his mouth. He'd hinted about Kon, mentioned 'moving on' several times, but Jason had yet to comment on it. Honestly, Tim was terrified of how Jason would react when he did find out. Granted, nothing had happened between Tim and Kon other than some awkward flirting and holding hands.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Jason asked. His hand settled large and nearly as warm as Kon's against Tim's cheek.

Tim started and then blushed at the concerned expression. "I'm sorry. I just… Words. They're failing me."

"Say it isn't so," Jason chuckled even though the laughter made him hold his ribs. "Aperture lost his words?"

"Shadow's the snippy one," Tim said, grinning. "I've always been the quiet one."

"Bossy," Steph countered as she came over to hug Tim from behind. "You wouldn't believe how pushy he was about getting me to train with B."

"Well, you needed the training, Steph," Tim complained because Jason's eyes went a little tight and his lips thinned out. "And the armor. She went out there with nothing but spandex and hockey pads, Jay."

The look Jason gave Steph had her spluttering and blushing as brightly as Tim had ever seen. Jay huffed at Steph as if he was about to launch into the 'you're crazy, you shouldn't be doing this, there are better things for a person like you to do with your life' lecture that he used to give to Tim and Ryan whenever he caught them on patrol. Steph apparently recognized the oncoming lecture because she groaned and rolled her eyes before Jason did more than open his mouth.

"Not with the 'stop this now' lecture!" Steph complained. "What is it with you guys? Only boys get to play? Come on! I was careful and not all of us have big budgets to work with, you know!"

"You shouldn't go out without proper training and equipment," Jason grumbled but his eyes were amused as Steph glared at him.

"Duh!" Steph snorted. "I got it. Really, I do. B lectured me on it a zillion times and then Tim and Ryan did it too. Plus Dick but his lectures always had hugs involved so that wasn't quite as bad. I don't need lectures from you too, Zombie Robin. For heaven's sake, I even get it from Tim's not-boyfriend, Kon."

Tim's heart froze in his chest. He felt his face go completely white as he tried to find something to say. Steph took a moment to realize that Tim was upset but Jason saw it immediately, raising one hand to stop Steph from saying anything else. As soon as Steph figured out that she'd just upset Tim she winced and cringed a little before straightening back up as if expecting him to hit her. He was tempted to do so but Jason caught his hands, preventing Tim from fleeing.

"Not-boyfriend?" Jason asked. "The mouthy kid with the fade cut, right?"

"Yeah," Tim whispered, heart pounding so hard that he could barely hear his own words. "We, it's not… we haven't…"

"They've had significant looks, long discussions about how neither of them are ready and enough unresolved sexual tension between the two of them that the entirety of Young Justice is about ready to lock them in a room until they work it out," Steph sighed. "And for the record, I'm sorry. I thought you'd already told Jason about flirting with Kon."

"No," Jason said, eyes still locked on Tim's face. Tim couldn't read his expression to tell what he thought about it. "Not yet. Not in so many words, anyway."

"Right," Steph said, shoulders drawing in as she drew a deep breath. "I'm leaving. I've already got foot in mouth disease so I'm just… going. Don't yell at each other. You two are way too cute together to yell. Personally, I think the solution to the problem is threesome. Just throwing that out there, not that there are any bets on the matter with the team."

"Steph!" Tim squawked.

His face went so red that Tim got a little lightheaded though that might be sheer reaction to the whole situation. Steph grinned at Tim's shock and Jason's snort, waving as she hurried out towards the Batmobile where Bruce waited. Tim realized he was shaking as the Batmobile drove away. They were alone, completely alone for the first time since Jason's return, and Tim had no idea what to say or do.

"Can't blame you for replacing me," Jason murmured, fingers tight around Tim's hand. "I mean, I was dead."

"Kon's not a replacement, Jason!" Tim protested. "The two of you aren't that much alike. You're very different."

"Really?"

Jason's skepticism made Tim push his nervousness and fear aside. No matter how much he'd feared this conversation for its possibility of pushing Jason away for good, Tim had to explain. No one deserved to look that doubtful of their own worth. Tim squeezed Jason's fingers, cautiously putting his hand on Jason's cheek. Where Kon's cheek was smooth, Jason's was starting to get stubble. He'd begun to need to shave a little before he died so it made sense that now he was back his beard was beginning to grow in.

"Kon's younger, much younger," Tim murmured as he played with the little bristles on Jason's cheek. "He's cheerful, cheesy, just a big ball of sunshine but cruder than Dick. He's boastful and down on himself at the same time, completely obsessed with what everyone else thinks of him. He's… he's not you. He's Kon, Jay. Kon looks to me to be his leader. They sort of all do. It's weird. Ryan always said I was a good leader but the others automatically thought I should be the leader of Young Justice.

"You're older," Tim continued as Jason's suspicious expression faded into a more curious one. "More of a leader than I am. I'd follow you anywhere and I wouldn't follow Bruce. You're intense, both in your happiness and in your anger. The two of you aren't really that much alike. I'm glad I met you first, Jay. I'm glad I loved you first and that you loved me. Losing you almost killed me. It was closer than Ryan will ever admit. If Ryan hadn't been there I don't know what I would have done but it would have been… stupid and potentially suicidal."

"Woulda worked with B?" Jason asked, looking amused at the sheer thought of it.

"Maybe," Tim nodded.

That made Jason's jaw drop open in shock. From the first time they'd gone out on patrol Tim and Ryan had made it clear that they didn't want to work with Batman. His few arguments with Jason had centered around why Tim thought it would be a very bad idea for both him and Bruce for them to work together as partners. Occasional allies had worked fairly well with Ryan there to serve as a foil between them but Tim knew perfectly well that his personality was entirely too much like Bruce's for them to be good for each other. They needed the contrast of a different sort of person around or their similarities would drive both of their obsessions to dangerous places.

"Okay, that is bad," Jason said after a moment. "Haven't gotten to spend much time around Kon. Everyone's been pushing me at Steph as if they're afraid I'm going smack her or something."

"I can understand that," Tim said, snorting with amusement. "But I think they're more worried that she'll smack you. She hit me in the face with a brick the first time we encountered each other on patrol."

"No," Jason breathed, staring at Tim and then laughing despite his sore ribs when Tim nodded ruefully. "Damn and I missed it. She's got a lot of spirit, I will say that. Keeps saying that you two were what roped her into being Robin."

"We did," Tim admitted. "She was taking stupid risks sometimes and she has so much potential. She just needs the training and support to be the best she can be. I expect that she'll go back to being Spoiler once you take back the Robin uniform."

"Eh, not sure I'm going to," Jason admitted. He nodded towards the elevator, rolling towards it with Tim's assistance. "I like to think that I'm going to outgrow Robin eventually, you know. I don't know who I'll be instead but, well, I'm thinking about it."

Once upstairs, they made their way to the kitchen where Alfred was working on after patrol snacks for Bruce and Steph. Alfred smiled when they came in, offering each of them a cookie and some milk. Tim took his cookie somewhat reluctantly but Jason grinned at getting his. Once they were settled at the table in the kitchen Jason studied Tim over the rim of his glass of milk.

"You think I'm gonna dump you, don't you?" Jason commented just as Tim took a drink of milk.

Tim choked, nearly dropped the glass of milk, coughed and sprayed milk across the table and then scrambled to mop it up with his napkin until Alfred sighed and came over with a towel for him to use.

"I, I'm sorry," Tim spluttered, unable to meet Jason's eyes. "Really, that was, God, so sorry about that!"

"My fault," Jason said entirely too calmly. "I should have waited until you swallowed. Really, though. You think I'm going to dump you over this."

"Not, not exactly," Tim sighed. He started breaking his cookie into bite size pieces as he marshaled his fleeing words. "I, you, I don't think you'll dump me. I think, well, I'm afraid, worried, that you'll think I'm going to dump you. And I don't want to do that!"

He stopped staring at the cookie to stare at Jason who wasn't looking at him. Jason was looking into his glass of milk as if it held all the answers Tim couldn't verbalize at the moment. His knuckles were white from the strength of his grip around the glass so Tim reached over the table to gently touch Jason's hand. That made him look up and finally meet Tim's eyes.

"I don't want to dump you," Tim said quietly enough that Alfred's food preparations stilled a little bit, proving that he most certainly did eavesdrop on his charges, no matter what Alfred might claim to the contrary. "I don't. I told Kon at the outset that I wasn't over you and I'm still not over you. I just… felt like I could finally take a few steps from where I'd been while you were dead."

"Heh, and now I'm not dead and you're not sure what the fuck you're going to do," Jason finished for him, a wry smile replacing the dark expression that had been there a moment before.

"Yes," Tim admitted. "I um, really care for you but I also very much like spending time with Kon and… I don't know. I'm not even fifteen yet, Jay. Granted that's only a couple of months off but planning my whole life before I've even gotten out of high school seems stupid, you know?"

Jason laughed and nodded. He finally let go of the glass of milk, taking Tim's hand instead. His grip was a little too tight but Tim didn't complain. Tim's grip was just as tight. They looked at each other for a long moment, Tim trying to memorize how Jason's face looked at this moment and wishing desperately for his camera or at least for his goggles and that camera so that he could have a record of it.

The tenderness and happiness seemed so out of place after the last year but Tim remembered with an internal start that Jason had always been happy unless he was beating on criminals that really deserved it. His anger was a brief thing, there and then gone again in the next moment, unlike Tim's slow-burning fury over certain injustices in life. Most of the time Jason was a cheerful person, a lot like Kon, now that Tim thought of it. He laughed under his breath, prompting Jason to smile and raise an eyebrow.

"What?" Jason asked.

"I fell in love with the two most cheerful people I know," Tim chuckled. "And the two who swear the most."

"Oh, now that I can see," Jason laughed with him. "I gotta meet Kon properly. Maybe we can have a swearing contest to see which of us can make you blush the hardest."

"Jay!" Tim protested as his cheeks automatically flamed at the sheer thought of it.

Jason just laughed, hand locked around Tim's hand. It wasn't the same as things had been before Jason died but Tim thought, heart fluttering a little in joy, that maybe, just maybe things would get better for once in his life. Maybe this time he'd get to have the joy without something horrible happening to take it all away.

+++++

"Shadow!"

Ryan grinned at the cheer from Suzie and Bart, laughing as Bart tackled him for hugs. Six months had made it a lot easier to deal with Jason's resurrection but he still had a little stomach flip when he realized that both Steph and Jason were there. Granted, Steph was sitting with Cassie whispering over something that Ryan most definitely didn't want to know about. Given the looks they were giving to Kon and Jason talking to each other it was almost certainly how Tim was going to react to the two of them together.

"Meep!" Tim squeaked behind Ryan as soon as he spotted Kon and Jason leaning against the far wall.

Jason's new suit as Bluejay was every bit as skin-tight as Kon's suit, just in blue, black and white instead of Kon's red and black. He was bigger than Kon and clearly enjoying the way Tim blushed behind his mask and goggles. Kon grinned that extra cheesy way he had when he knew that someone was admiring him, stretching and brushing his fingers through the long part of his hair in front. He even had the sunglasses on. Ryan had to swallow a laugh as Kon looked over the rim of his glasses at Tim.

"Go on, get it over with," Ryan murmured to Tim.

"I hate them, I hate them both," Tim complained. "Why do this in public?"

"They wanted to see how you'd react," Bart explained perfectly seriously. "Jason has been sneaking out of Gotham to talk to Kon for weeks now."

Tim stared at Bart for a second before pushing his goggles up on the top of his head. He stomped over to Jason and Kon, irritation obvious though Ryan thought it was more for the doing this in front of everyone than it was for anything else. Tim never had tried to control Jason's movement, any more than Jason had tried to control theirs. Well, other than the whole 'you shouldn't do this' lecture that seemed to be part and parcel of being a Bat.

"Kiss or no kiss?" Ryan whispered to Bart.

"Oh, they should kiss!" Bart said, grinning at Ryan. "Definitely. The girls were talking about it and they all agreed that Kon and Jason and Tim together would be a good thing. I think so too. They're good for each other. Tim's good for Kon and for Jason and Jason's good for Tim, really good. He's also helping Kon a lot with his fighting and control over his abilities. And then Kon's good for Jason as well because he keeps making Jason laugh and he's way too serious sometimes."

Ryan laughed and pulled Bart over to the other corner of the room so that they could snuggle up while watching Kon and Jason compete at being sexy for Tim's (and the girls') pleasure. It was kind of fun watching them, actually. Tim blushed incredibly hard as Jason tugged his mask down, exposing his mouth. He looked like he expected Kon and Jason to grab him for kisses right there and was thinking about preemptively stabbing them to prevent it. Both Kon and Jason seemed to see that it wouldn't be welcome because Jason draped an arm over Kon's shoulder to murmur something into his ear that made Kon go bright red too. Just the way he held Kon made Ryan squirm a little, much less the girls who started giggling. Well, Steph cheered until Tim rounded on her and glared but there was a lot of giggling from that side of the room.

"Do it, do it!" Cassie called, surprisingly positively given how strong her crush had been on Kon when they first got together. Steph's arm draped around Cassie's neck might possibly have something to do with her letting the crush go.

"Cassie!" Tim squawked. "We're supposed to go on patrol!"

"Nope, the Justice League called and they said we might be needed for a mission," Steph said with her biggest, most delighted grin. "We're supposed to wait for them to call us. Might be an hour or more though. You've got time to make out."

Jason laughed. "Is that what that call was? I wondered why you were grinning that way."

"Cool," Kon said, grinning when Tim turned and stared at him. "Unless, you know, you don't want to talk to us?"

"Kissing, more kissing!" Steph called. "Kissing is better!"

"Why don't you do the kissing?" Tim protested.

Cassie grinned at him and then grabbed Steph's arm to pull her around into her lap. The kiss appeared to startle Steph for a moment because she made a muffled squawking sound that died off as Steph moaned. Ryan gulped, staring, as the kiss went on and on and on. Steph wound her arms around Cassie's neck and kissed back with enough enthusiasm that Ryan was really, really glad that Bart was in his arms, hiding his growing erection from everyone else.

"Okay," Steph gasped when Cassie finally let her lips go, "we can do a lot more of that."

"Oh good," Cassie said, grinning.

Bart's whine made Steph and Cassie grin at him before they started kissing again. As soon as they started Tim groaned and grabbed both Kon and Jason to drag them from the room. Ryan took that as permission to slip away with Bart too because he really didn't think it was appropriate to watch Steph and Cassie make out. Even if it was surprisingly hot.

"Where are we going?" Bart asked once they were in the hallway. "Do we get to kiss too?"

"Um," Ryan said, stumbling over the hope in Bart's voice, "did you want to? I mean, right now. And in the future of course but um. Um."

Bart laughed and led the way to the bedroom he'd claimed as his own, gesturing grandly for Ryan to precede him. That made Ryan grin at him, as did the tackle-hug onto Bart's bed that followed. They wrestled for a couple of moments, not very long at all as Bart never had the patience for long bouts of wrestling that weren't training related, before settling into each other's arms on the bed. It was nice, really, really nice, if Ryan was honest.

"I do want kisses," Bart said once he had his legs twined with Ryan's and his arms firmly wrapped around Ryan's chest. "I want to do more than kisses. I'd really like to try some of the BDSM things you told me about, like the spanking thing and maybe the make me be still thing. And I really like the idea of collars though I think that they'd cause trouble in the field and I don't want to be owned all the time. Just sometimes. And only by you."

Ryan let out the breath that he'd been holding when Bart squeezed him a little harder. "We don't have to do just BDSM things."

"Well, no," Bart said, blowing an amused raspberry against Ryan's neck. "Just, those would be fun things to try along with the kisses and holding hands and snuggling and maybe sex, too. If you want to. Do you want to?"

Bart's expression was nervous enough that Ryan had to pull him in for a kiss. It wasn't their first kiss. That had been a super-fast kiss that happened the night Jason was resurrected when Ryan was teetering on the edge of a panic attack despite Bart's hugs and everyone else there to comfort him. The second and third had been quick ones too, things that Bart initiated after battles where first Bart and then Ryan had gotten in trouble. But it was the first one that Ryan had initiated, that he controlled instead of Bart.

He took it slow, holding Bart's face in his hands as he pressed gentle little kisses against Bart's lips. Bart shivered at first, vibrating the bed, but after a few seconds he stilled and relaxed against Ryan. The kisses got deeper, lasted longer, once Bart calmed down. Even for Ryan time seemed to stretch to the point that the first brush of Ryan's tongue over Bart's lips seemed to have happened a year after they first started.

Bart's mouth opened and he moaned, rocking against Ryan's side. As soon as he could, Ryan let his tongue slide into Bart's mouth. He tasted sweet as if he'd been drinking soda or eating candy before Tim and Ryan showed up. Ryan wasn't really sure what he was doing but letting his tongue explore Bart's mouth had both of them hard and rocking against each other, had Ryan's breath coming as hard as when he had a full-on spar with Slade only way better.

"I like this," Bart whispered when they finally pulled back for air.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "Me too. We can, can explore this. And more. Just over time, I think. I'm still really nervous about doing something you won't like."

Bart snorted, pressing a lightning quick kiss on his lips before grinning. "If you do, I'll tell you and you'll stop. You can do the same for me, right?"

"Yeah," Ryan said, grinning at Bart. "That works."

He pulled Bart back in for more kisses. They might not have very long before they had to go out on patrol or off on a mission for the Justice League. For now, they might as well enjoy the downtime and spend some time together.

+++++

"I think your not-twin's making out with Bart," Kon commented as he checked the monitors.

Tim nodded, still fighting against the blush that Jason and Kon had set off earlier. "I wouldn't be surprised. Ryan's been a bit worried about taking it further but Bart seems pretty serious about him."

"Condoms?" Jason asked, apparently just to make Tim's fading blush return full force. "Come on, we're all teenagers. You know it might be an issue."

"Thank you," Tim groaned at him, "but Mother and Slade already made sure that our gear had a 'proper' supply of condoms and lube. As well as lecturing us on preparation for sex, what can happen during sex both heterosexual and homosexual and appropriate clean up that should be done. I'm not sure which was worse. Mother's was full of medical terminology but highly detailed. Slade's was full of anecdotes about sex he'd had but less detailed."

Both Jason and Kon looked horrified by that. It made Tim feel a little better about how embarrassed he'd been by both lectures. Ryan had pretended that he wasn't dying a little inside during the lectures, held separately a couple of days apart, but Tim knew better. They'd had a hard time cuddling after the lectures even though both of them still had nightmares at night.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck while looking like he wanted to forget that Tim had ever said anything like that. Kon was blushing so hard that he looked like he'd burned himself but there was just a hint of sadness in his eyes. They'd talked often enough about how no one had really told him anything before he joined Young Justice. There hadn't been a lecture on safe sex, just downloads in his training that Tim privately thought had to have left out a lot of really important information.

"B just told me that a crime fighter couldn't afford attachments," Jason said. "Dick was the one to give me the talk."

"Tana," Kon said, sighing sadly. "Though it wasn't exactly the most coherent thing. She just warned me about a few things a couple of times."

"Either way," Tim said stiffly enough that both Jason and Kon grinned at him, "yes, we know what to be careful of and yes, we have condoms. Both of us. It should be fine, Jason."

"That mean you'd be open to making out too?" Jason asked.

He obviously tried to make the words come out casual and calm but his expression was way too nervous for that. Kon looked equally nervous, not in the 'going to lose you' way but in the 'oh please, oh please, oh please' way he had when really good pizza was on the line. Tim's heart skipped a beat. That they might be as excited and nervous about the prospect of taking things further than gentle flirting and a lot of discussion (all of which had happened separately instead of all three of them together) was enough to make Tim quiver as though he was Bart.

Jason chuckled as he reached out to drag Tim into a hug. Kon grinned and moved to sandwich Tim between them, nuzzling the back of Tim's neck when he moaned. Tim didn't want to relax in their arms, not with the door unlocked and the possibility of the JL calling any second, but he did. Both Jason and Kon were warm and strong, holding him so gently that Tim knew that he could break away from them without effort. The thing was that he didn't want to.

"You… okay?" Jason asked.

Tim shivered before letting his head rest on Jason's chest. Kon moved behind Tim as if he wanted to pull away but Tim put his hand on top of Kon's hand where it rested on his hips. That made Kon groan and press a kiss against the exposed skin on the back of Tim's neck. This felt right. It felt good. He wasn't sure how to convey that to either Jason or Kon but if they could find some way to make a three-way relationship function Tim knew that he'd be happier than he'd ever been in his entire life.

No more loneliness. No more wondering when people were going to leave him alone. Jason had come back from the dead. Kon was invulnerable to practically everything. And Ryan had Bart who so obviously loved him to pieces that Tim expected them to get married as soon as it was possible, should male-male marriage every be approved.

"Very okay," Tim whispered. "I didn't think you two would get along."

"Eh, the Kid's not that bad," Jason said, a delighted and very shaky laugh making his chest shake under Tim's cheek. "Little cocky but then he's got reason to be."

"And I think your Zombie Robin's not bad either," Kon said, nuzzling and kissing Tim's neck again. "Not a bad kisser."

Kon squawked and stumbled backwards as Tim's head abruptly shot up so that he could glare at Jason and Kon in turn. His glare made Jason squirm uncomfortably while Kon rubbed his chin as if he'd been hurt by the way Tim's head had impacted his jaw. It took a second for him to realize that Tim was glaring, at which point Kon gulped and started floating nervously.

"Tim?" Kon asked.

"Kiss," Tim said, no asked, no, that was actually a demand, wasn't it? "Kiss?"

"Oh, well if you want one," Jason said.

He pulled Tim back around so quickly that he only had time for half of a block before Jason pressed his lips against Tim's and proceeded to make Tim's brains burn on the bottom from how hot the kiss was. Tim moaned, clutching Jason's arms and then his shoulders because his knees weren't exactly cooperating and Tim really didn't want to collapse right out of Jason's arms. But then Kon was pressed up against Tim's back again, making sure that he wouldn't fall down so it was okay. It was better than okay.

It was perfect because when Jason stopped kissing Tim, Kon was there to start kissing him and Kon's kisses were completely different but equally wonderful. Where Jason was a thorough, deep kisser who nibbled on Tim's lips and clutched his hips, Kon was an urgent kisser whose tongue thrust deep into Tim's mouth after just a few moments of feeling Tim out. He teased Tim's tongue until it followed his tongue back into Kon's mouth so that Kon could suck on Tim's tongue and make him shudder.

"Nice," Kon breathed once Tim pulled back for air.

"I'm going to die," Tim announced. "Oh God, you're both hard."

"For you," Jason murmured as he lightly bit the back of Tim's neck. "All for you."

"Yeah," Kon agreed. "As much or as little as you want, whenever you want it."

Kon abruptly looked up, staring at the door for a moment before backing off and waving to Jason who deposited Tim in the control chair of the monitors. They took up posts on opposite sides of the room, trying to look nonchalant despite the way Tim was blushing and Jason's swollen lips. Even Kon's lips were a bit swollen. Come to think of it, Tim's were as well. He shook his head at them as the door opened and Steph poked her head in. She had lips that were twice as swollen and at some point she'd lost her mask, the headband for her hair and her top was open nearly down to her bra.

"Ah, any calls?" Steph asked, grinning at them all.

"No, nothing," Tim said, cursing himself for the way his voice came out all squeaky and strange.

"Great!" Steph said. "Secret's volunteered to watch the monitors if you guys want to… talk, you know, about anything. At all. In your room. On the bed."

"Is that what you were doing, Steph?" Tim asked.

Steph barked a laugh. "Heck no! I've been making out with the girls. It's a lot more fun than I would have expected. We're heading down to the pool to make out there so you can join us or not as you wish. We'd love to see you."

She waggled her eyebrows and then laughed as Tim's traitorous cheeks flared with heat. Steph waved and then sauntered off, humming happily. Tim sighed and looked at Jason who shrugged but he was grinning so maybe it was okay. When Tim looked at Kon, he was grinning as if he really, really, really wanted to go watch Steph kiss everyone. After a moment Tim threw up his hands and stood.

"Fine, let's go down to the pool, then," Tim laughed in spite of himself.

"Dick always said that team make-out sessions were good for morale," Jason snickered. "I guess he must have told Steph the same stories he did me."

"I think my morale's better," Kon said. He flew over and kissed Tim, just a quick little peck but it still made Tim's heart lurched. "Lots better."

Tim ducked his head for a moment before catching Kon's hand so that he wouldn't fly off. He offered the other hand to Jason who took it with a grin that was so wide it had to hurt his cheeks. This certainly wasn't what he'd expected out of life all those years ago when he and Ryan had teamed up against their mothers. It was so much better than anything Tim could have dreamed up. They headed out into the hallway hand in hand to find Ryan and Bart in their swimsuits headed towards the pool too.

"You look happy," Ryan commented with the most contented expression Tim had ever seen on his cousin's face.

"You too," Tim agreed. "Pool?"

"Yup," Ryan said. "We might as well enjoy ourselves until the next inevitable emergency hits. Who knows what the future might bring?"

The End


End file.
